


Fallout

by starscrream



Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Kissing, M/M, Obsession, Secret Relationship, Spark Bond, hold onto your fucking socks everyone, lying, unhealthy relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 13:07:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4306278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starscrream/pseuds/starscrream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prowl finds out about something terrible and everything goes to absolute hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> March 2017 edit: uM this is awkward lol but i actually stopped writing this!! i got too uncomfortable with how dark it is + the unhealthiness of the relationship. :/ it's doesn't really reflect well on me. i'll leave what i wrote up since i know there are ppl who like it out there, but i won't write anymore ;-; i'm sorry if you were waiting to see what happened!!!!
> 
> fortunately i'm working on another bumbleblitz fanfic that's multi-chapter and has a similar vibe, just without the icky relationship dynamics. (plus it's a lot more organized and better written than this lol) i'll have it up pretty soon 
> 
> feel free to ask me in the comments/my tumblr (blitzwingg) about the plot of the story! i can tell you the ending if you want to know 

“Sari, quit it! That’s cheating!”

 Bumblebee hunched over the game controllers, squinting at the video game screen. Sari copied his position, grinning widely as her car in the game slammed into his and sent it spinning out of control.

 “That’s not true! You do the same thing all the time!” she yelled back.

Bee gripped the game controller tighter and grumbled. “Just you wait Sari! I’ve got a whole ton of power-ups saved just for the final lap!” The pair sat in intense silence for another minute, the only sound being the smashing of buttons.

The two had managed to waste the whole day on a racing game that Sari had rediscovered, after neglecting it in favor of carrying out Autobot duties. The spacious main room of the Autobot base was bathed in the synthetic blue light of the screen, stretching the shadows and making the atmosphere more intense for the gamers.

Prowl wandered into the room and stood silently, watching the two. Eventually, he walked over to stand beside the couch.

“How long have you two been playing this game today? You should’ve taken a break hours ago.” he drawled. He pointed to the night scene outside the base’s window. “Sari, it’s nearly midnight. Don’t you think you should be in recharge at this hour?”

“You mean sleep?” Sari scoffed as she once again drove Bee’s car off the road.

“Prowl’s right, Sari.” Prowl turned to see Optimus leaning through the doorway of the room. “You _should_ have been to sleep hours ago. In fact, Bumblebee was responsible for not letting you stay up so late.” The Prime glowered at his teammate.

Bee chuckled nervously but didn’t look away from the screen, continuing to mash buttons.

“Sorry Bossbot! We got a little carried away with this game tournament thing…” he briefly turned to grin sheepishly over his shoulder. “What time did you say it was again?”

Prowl quickly checked his internal chronometer. “11:50.”

Sari jumped slightly when she heard Bee’s system give off a nervous beep.

He looked over at her apprehensively. “Uh, hey Sari? Maybe you should get to bed now! We can keep playing in the morning, okay?” Bumblebee reached over to the game system and hit the power button, shutting down the game just as Sari’s car was about to cross the finish line. She whined in protest as he stood up from the couch.

“Hey! You can’t just call it quits when you’re about to lose!” she protested and stared up at her friend defiantly.

Bumblebee looked down at her and shrugged. “Well...it is pretty late! Yeah, I agree with Prowl. You need to rest.” He grinned guiltily. “Sorry.”

Prowl scoffed and crossed his arms. “Since when have you been agreeing with me, Bumblebee?” he muttered.

Sari groaned but slid off the couch and began walking to her room. “Yeah, well, you better be prepared to lose when we pick up that last game tomorrow.” She turned to grin at Bee, but faltered when she saw him walking to the entrance of the base.

Optimus watched Bee go towards the door and crossed his arms. “Where are you going at this hour, Bumblebee? Shouldn’t you be getting your recharge too?” he asked with a suspicious tone.

Bee halted suddenly, turning very slowly to meet everyone’s gazes. “Oh, yeah. It’s just….” He scratched at the back of his head and looked at the floor.

Well, there’s a….race across on the other side of the city! Yeah.” He looked back up and met Optimus’ inquiring stare. “Y’see, I didn’t want to tell you guys about it, or Sari would want to go.” He chuckled and wrung his hands together. “A-and there’s going to be these new racers from the next town over! They’re apparently decked out with new...uh, racing gear. It’s going to be intense.”

Optimus and Prowl glanced at each other sharply, both raising an optic ridge at Bumblebee.

Optimus uncrossed his arms and sighed. “Well, just don’t stay out too late. We need you back tomorrow to help Bulkhead with another construction project.” Bee grinned and gave a thumbs up to the Prime.

“Sure thing, Bossbot! I’ll be back before you even know it.” Bee waved at Sari before turning back to the door and pushing it open, momentarily letting the light from the moon shine on the bots inside. Sari hummed pensively and trudged back into the base to her room.

Optimus and Prowl stood together for a few more moments in the empty room, looking at the door. Prowl back to the direction of his room, and to awaiting recharge, but stopped when Optimus called out “Hold up, Prowl.”

Prowl turned slightly to meet his eyes. “What is it, Optimus?”

The young Prime fidgeted slightly in place and cleared his voice. He recrossed his arms and walked over to where Prowl was standing. “Is it just me, or has Bumblebee been leaving the base for odd reasons lately? I don’t think he’s been telling the truth about what he’s doing, either.” he questioned, raising his shoulders awkwardly.

Prowl vented loudly in agitation, causing Optimus to raise an optic ridge. The ninja bot put his hands on his hips and scowled.

“Believe me, Optimus, Ratchet and I were just discussing it a few orns ago. That isn’t the first time he’s used the race excuse.”

Optimus rubbed his chin in thought. “I was hoping that I wasn’t just being paranoid. It’s pretty obvious that he’s been lying to us.” He looked out the base window to see Bumblebee long gone from the area, no signs of vehicles on the main road.

“Just last week, he said he was going out to a drive-in theater. When he got back, and I asked him how it went, he said he didn’t know what I was talking about.” Prowl complained. Optimus nodded his helm in agreement and turned back to his teammate.

“That seems pretty consistent with what I’ve seen him up to lately.” Optimus said. Prowl nodded, his frown deepening.

Optimus put a hand on his colleague’s shoulder hesitantly. He vented slowly and met Prowl’s steady gaze. “I don’t know where he’s going, or why he keeps acting like this, but I want to get to the bottom of it before there’s trouble.” he said in a low tone, as to not potentially alert Sari or any of the other sleeping bots. “I have a favor to ask you.”

Prowl smirked slightly at the question. “Do you want me to follow him and find out what’s going on?”

Optimus’ optics widened in surprise before he grinned at his friend. “Exactly.” He took his hand off Prowl’s shoulder and returned it to his chin. “I don’t know if you’ll find him, since he’s fast enough to have gotten pretty far away from here by now…-” he trailed off, glancing at Prowl questioningly.

“It’s fine, really. If I don’t find him tonight, I can always try again some other time.” Prowl sighed. “I don’t think he’ll be stopping this act any time soon.”

Prowl stepped backwards a few steps and transformed into his motorcycle alt mode. He rolled up to the base entrance, and Optimus pushed open the door for him. The ninja bot flicked on his headlights as soon as he made it out into the moonlight landscape, lighting up the gravel and construction equipment surrounding the building.

Prowl turned slightly towards Optimus, revving his engine in preparation for the drive into the city. “I’ll comm you if I find him, but I’m not promising anything will happen. I’ll try and get some information from the humans on the supposed race before I do any extensive searching.” he said.

Optimus gave a nod of affirmation. “Thanks, Prowl. Good luck.” He pulled the door of the base closed, leaving Prowl out alone in the night.

* * *

Prowl drove along the deserted highway leading into the city, mulling over the recent situation with Bumblebee. After the arrival of the Cons on Earth, and the dispersion of the Allspark into the Allspark fragments, everyone had been more on edge than when the Autobots had been simply helping out around Detroit.

Prowl tried to remember back to when he first became suspicious of his teammate’s late-night outings. He had noticed the problem about a month ago. The specific incident that stood out in his processor was when Bumblebee had tried to sneak back into the base after the doors had been locked.

Prowl had been recharging in his room when he was woken by a loud crash and Bumblebee’s cry of distress. Prowl had jumped up, his weapons systems blaring to life, only to see the outline of Bee sprawled on the floor in the darkness. When he questioned what had happened, the younger bot had sputtered out apologies and a noncoherent reply, mentioning something about the the front door’s lock and the roof, before sprinting to his own room.

The youngest member of the team had always been prone to behaving in immature ways, often lashing out and acting childish at the wrong times. It was common for him the throw a tantrum and drive out, but he’d return quickly after cooling down to apologize. Ratchet had summarized Prowl’s concerns when they had their recent chat.

“It’s as if...he’s been keeping a secret for a really long time, and we’re all aware that Bumblebee’s an awful liar. Not to mention he seems preoccupied lately. Even Sari has noticed it.” Ratchet had confided to Prowl over a cube of energon. They then looked over at Bee, who was staring dreamily at the wall while Sari talked loudly about their plans for the days. He most certainly looked preoccupied, not even paying attention to his friend.    

Prowl pulled over onto the overpass that would take him into the main district of the city. The roads had been nearly empty throughout his drive. _Hopefully there’ll be some humans out at this hour._ Prowl mused.

Driving up onto one of the streets of the city center, he observed his surrounding in his alt mode. No humans were out on the street, though a nightclub to his side was flashing with color and music. The Autobot transformed out of his alt mode and scanned the landscape from his regular height. He began walking along the street, calculating other areas he could check for late-night humans.

After nearly making it to the end of the street, Prowl heard the music of the club become louder, signifying that the door had opened. Turning around, he saw two college-aged humans stumbling out of the building. He strode swiftly to the pair, who were giggling and clinging tightly to each other.

The humans didn’t notice him until he was directly behind them. Prowl cleared his voicebox. “Hello. I was wondering if you could assist me with something?” he asked.

The two jumped in surprise, one of them yelling and pointing. They soon relaxed when they recognized him. “Check it out, an Autobot!” one of them exclaimed, grabbing his phone to snap a picture.

Prowl smiled stiffly as the camera snapped. “Yes, well. I need to ask a quick question.” he said curtly. “Do either of you know about any races taking place around the city? Specifically involving racers from other towns or cities around Detroit?” he asked.

The pair glanced at each other with confused expressions. The one with the phone shrugged and shuffled his feet. “I don’t think there’ve been any more since the police have been crackin’ down on street races lately.” he said.

The other human, a girl, hummed in agreement. “My friend actually did a lot of street racing here, but she said that races have been taking place outside of the city from now on. If you’re looking for a race, you’d probably have to leave Detroit.”

Prowl groaned internally, but kept his cool and simply nodded at the college kids. “Thank you for your cooperation…” he muttered. The Autobot transformed back into his alt mode and roared away.

_Apparently, Optimus was right when he thought Bumblebee was lying to him._ Prowl brooded. _That was only one source, but I doubt I’ll find any other humans who know anything about street racing._ He got back on one of the overpasses that would carry him to the other side of the city. He accessed his comm link a few minutes after reviewing the situation, sending a message to Optimus.

“Optimus? It’s Prowl. I talked to a pair of humans who confirmed that Bumblebee may have been lying about where he was going. I’m going to try and find out where he’s actually gone by-”

Out of the corner of his optic, a flash of yellow paint lit up in the streetlights on the adjacent overpass. Looking at the passing car more closely, Prowl could see the Autobot symbol located on it, identifying the vehicle as Bumblebee.

Prowl’s comm link crackled to life with Optimus’ voice. “What was that Prowl? Can you give me any other updates?”

“Actually, I just saw him...I’m going to try and not get noticed. I’ll comm you back as soon as I can.” he whispered. He then silenced his comm link, ignoring Optimus’ attempt to question him on what was happening. Prowl then transformed out of his alt mode to jump over into the other overpass. The taillights on Bee’s alt mode were disappearing fast, but Prowl continued to wait a few moments so he would have enough distance behind him to not be noticed. Transforming back into his alt mode, he shot forward after Bee.

Bee’s route through the city was taking them down to the docks. The city became darker as the number of lampposts decreased at the water’s edge. Prowl continued to stay at a calculated distance behind Bee, occasionally hiding or turning off his headlights when their distance became too close. Eventually, Bee pulled up to a warehouse on the edge, most likely used to store shipping cargo. The building was devoid of lights, inside and out, and was in fairly bad condition. Prowl felt a twinge of suspicion at the surroundings.

_It’s almost like he doesn’t want there to be humans around._ Prowl thought.

 He continued forward but abruptly stopped when Bumblebee transformed out of his alt-mode and warily approached the warehouse's door. Prowl was forced to crouch behind a stack of barrels to avoid being spotted.He frantically searched for a gap in the barrels to see Bumblebee. . He could hear the creak of the door, the sharp screech of metal against metal, followed by a bitter curse from Bumblebee.

Prowl grimaced as he glanced around for a new vantage point. _Is he seriously trying to get inside the warehouse?_ he thought. _What are you getting yourself into, Bumblebee…_

Prowl managed to peek over the top of the barrel stack just in time to see Bee pull out his stingers and blast the lock on the door. The motorcycle gaped at his comrade in disbelief. Bee simply grinned in his handiwork and stepped into the building.

Prowl immediately jumped up from his hiding place and purposefully strode toward the door. He felt a twinge of anger at his teammate for engaging in actions that would only lower the reputation of the Autobots. _I can't even imagine what trouble he'd get himself into with the human's police force if he got caught breaking into human property._ he fumed to himself.

Bumblebee's pedesteps could be faintly heard from the entrance of the warehouse. Prowl grimaced at the inky darkness inside the building, flicking on his night vision, and took a tentative step inside. The night vision revealed construction equipment, more barrels, arrays of cargo containers, and ship parts placed around the expansive room. The ceiling reached much higher than the average Autobot height, with small windows that left patches of illumination on the floor.

There were multiple corridors breaking off the main floor of the warehouse. Prowl apprehensively approached one to his right, listening closely for the sound of pedesteps. He frowned slightly when he couldn't detect any more noises coming from Bee. In fact, the whole warehouse seemed to be completely silent.

_Is it possible that he left the building? That wouldn't make sense, considering that he went through the trouble of breaking the lock to get in..._ Prowl mused. He continued to sneak around, looking and listening for signs of Bumblebee's presence. The shadows of the corridor he stepped into created an extremely eerie atmosphere, even with night vision.

The sound of fluttering paper pierced the silence. Prowl whipped around, weapons systems activating.

“Bumblebee, is that you?” he called out into the corridor. Nothing was coming up in his visual range. Prowl's spark fluttered with nervousness until he heard the same noise come from directly below him. Glancing down, he saw a large mouse- maybe even a rat-scuttling among bits of trash and newspaper that had been scattered on the ground. Prowl vented slowly to calm his now-pulsing spark.

“Definitely not Bumblebee...” he muttered, continuing back down his route.

The motorcycle stopped to peer into another room. He began to look back up, but immediately glanced back when a flash of motion appeared in his peripheral vision. He squinted into the corner where the motion occurred, but couldn't make out anything specific, even with the night vision. Prowl was instantly suspicious. He considered just comming Optimus and reporting Bee's behavior, but found himself sneaking into the room anyways.

The newest room was significantly better lit than the others. The lighting was good enough that Prowl was able to turn off his night vision. Looking up at the ceiling, he immediately noticed a large hole, the source of the moonlight pouring in. The metal of the roof looked as if something big had dropped down on it and smashed the hole in.

 The room also held an abundance of barrels, huge containers, and supplies. Prowl had to sidestep a spare anchor that was lying in front of him. The amount of material made it hard to move about, and Prowl grimaced as he waded through the mess. Narrowing his optics, he could see a large clearing in the stuff a few yards away. He stepped around a pile of wood, placing his servos on a row of barrels for support, and slipped onto the cleared section of pavement.

Prowl scanned the area to his left, noticing no other signs of motion. He turned to survey his right, but immediately sprang back into the cover of the barrels when he spotted the source of movement.

 Standing in the right side of the clearing was one of the Decepticons on Earth, Blitzwing. The materials scattered around, along with Prowl himself, were easily dwarfed by the presence of the huge cybertronian.

Prowl ducked behind the row of barrels and crouched low to the ground, spark racing. A sharp pang of anxiety sprang through his systems. He stayed in the crouch for what seemed like megacycles.

_What on Cybertron would a Decepticon be doing in a place like this?_ Prowl thought. He managed to calm his sparkbeat and ventilations enough to peek over the edge of the barrels.

Fortunately, Blitzwing hadn't noticed Prowl. The Decepticon had been facing away from him. Prowl noticed that Blitzwing's Icy personality was on display, though he still looked slightly irritated. His wings twitched and he vented in an annoyed way, shuffling his huge pedes. Even when the Decepticon wasn't rapidly switching through his erratic personalities, Prowl still felt nervous at the unpredictability of the mech.

Prowl scowled and internally groaned at the situation he was in. He sunk back behind his cover and smacked his palm to his forehelm. _Of course Bumblebee led me right into trouble. I need to find him before he runs into-_

__ “Hey there, Blitzbrain!”

Prowl shot up to desperately peek over his hiding place when he heard Bee's voice. Squinting, he could see his fellow Autobot stumbling through the mess scattered about the floor. A guilty smile adorned Bee's faceplate as he tripped and climbed over the materials in his way.

 Every instinct in Prowl was telling him to jump up and stop Bumblebee from approaching, but his energon lines froze when he saw Blitzwing turn to the smaller bot. Prowl onlined his weapons systems, pulling out a blade and preparing to engage the Decepticon, but he froze when he heard the larger bot answer back.

 “You're certainly late.” the Decepticon said, his usually monotone voice laced with slight annoyance. He crossed the clearing in only a few steps to where Bumblebee had stumbled out of the mess.

Prowl felt utter confusion at the scene taking place. _They set up a meeting?! Is this where Bumblebee has been disappearing?_ he thought, feeling anger replace the confusion. _Optimus needs to know about this_ now _._

Bumblebee scowled up at the Decepticon, huffing loudly. “Hey, take it easy, I accidentally got caught up with Sari. Plus,” he gestured around the room. “This place is a dump! I tripped over half the slagging scrap in this place just trying to get here.” Blitzwing stooped down to Bumblebee's height and hummed in a bored way.

Prowl ducked down when he realized that the pair were close enough to easily see him. He didn't want to be noticed and potentially face Hothead Blitzwing's wrath, or ruin any chance for clarification to what was going on. He remained as still as possible to be able to hear everything happening.

He heard Blitzwing- still in his Icy personality- clear his vocalizer slightly. “I didn't think you Autobots were so irresponsible as to get distracted by your pet.” he said smoothly. An exasperated sigh from Bumblebee followed.

“Don't be such a crankshaft, she isn't our pet.”

Prowl flinched at the _click whir_ sound of Blitzwing's face changing. Random Blitzwing's cackle echoed loudly in his audials.

“Crankshaft! That's a good one!” the Decepticon shouted, before collapsing back into annoying, maniacal laughter. “You always come up with the best insults!”

“Well,” Bumblebee's voice was slightly smug. “I guess it's one of my many talents.” Blitzwing cackled again but soon ceased into a gleeful rumble of his jet engine.

Prowl once again flinched, this time nearly covering his audials, when Blitzwing suddenly shouted. “Ooh!! Guess what I got today!” Prowl heard the jet rummage around, along with Bumblebee demanding to know what he had.

_Click whir_

Icy Blitwing's voice returned. “Lord Megatron sent me out on a mission to retrieve this Allspark fragment today.”

Prowl was instantly on edge at the mention of the Allspark. The thought that Bee might be a traitor sprang into his processor, but he quickly decided he needed more information before he made that assumption.

_Maybe Bumblebee and Blitzwing are collaborating on restoring the Allspark for neither the Autobots nor Decepticons?_ he theorized. _But Blitzwing did refer to the fragment in a way that suggests it isn't the point of their meeting..._ Prowl decided to peer over the barrels to see the Allspark fragment and how Bumblebee would react to it.

 Slowly, Prowl lifted his helm into view of the pair. Nothing about the scene had changed, except Blitzwing now held the glowing Allspark fragment in his palm. The fragment itself was surprisingly big; it resembled a shard of glass that might come out of a broken window. Its soft blue light illuminated the two bots.

Prowl shifted his focus over to Bumblebee. The Autobot was staring intently at the fragment, smiling slightly. He looked up at Blitzwing. “They're really pretty, aren't they?” Bee said, and reached out to touch the glowing shard.

The personality change on Blitzwing was instantaneous. The calm Icy was immediately replaced with Hothead, who jerked the fragment away from Bee swiftly.

“DON'T TRY AND TAKE THAT FROM ME, AUTOBOT!” Blitzwing yelled, making Prowl jump and sink back behind the barrels. The room was dead quiet for a few tense nanoclicks. Prowl expected an equally angry retort from Bumblebee. Surprisingly, he just heard a slight chuckle from his comrade.

“Yeesh, I'm not tryin' to swindle you out of anything,” Bee said smoothly. “'Just thought I would touch it ok?” Prowl could hear Hothead's angry venting slowly dwindle to a normal rate. “I just wanted to get a closer look, since it's pretty.”

More tense silence followed.

_Click whir_

“You're right, it is pretty! We could make gorgeous jewelry out of it. Oh!! Or put it in a tiara!” Random Blitzwing screeched with delight. Prowl was overwhelmed by how annoying the mech was in that state.

Bumblebee laughed. “That's something Sari might like, at a tea party or whatever.” he said.

Random Blitzwing then launched into a speech about throwing an “Decepticon tea party,” the plan growing more insane as he carried on. Prowl looked around for escape routes, but didn't notice any where the two wouldn't notice him. He was tempted to record the conversation, but concluded that Optimus wouldn't want to hear the Decepticon's ramblings.

After a while, Blitzwing calmed down and switched over to Icy, and the conversation between the two changed to talking in low tones. Prowl struggled to hear what they were saying at some points, but they mostly stayed within casual topics. Sari's name was mentioned a few times, and Hothead Blitzwing briefly complained about his comrade, Lugnut.

Prowl checked his internal chronometer. The time was nearly 1 AM, meaning that the two had been talking for quite a while. Prowl sighed internally, extremely annoyed at the situation he was in.

_It appears that Bumblebee and Blitzwing have some sort of friendship or alliance, seeing as they aren't fighting and are behaving quite friendly towards each other._ he mused. _I doubt that they're interacting because they actually like each other. Autobots and Decepticons don't get along at this level. It's likely that they're either planning something, or have some sort of deal worked out._ Prowl thought.

Prowl's theorizing was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a comm unit crackling to life. He took the chance to peer over the barrels. Blitzwing's Decepticon insignia was flashing, signaling that it was his comm unit in use. Both Autobots in the room jumped when Megatron's voice spat out.

“Blitzwing! Have you obtained the Allspark fragment as I requested?” Megatron asked through the comm link. The sound broadcasted loud and clear, echoing around the room.

Blitzwing, currently in his Icy personality, cleared his vocalizer. “Yes, Lord Megatron. I will now return to base.” he said, and cut the comm link. The Decepticon looked apologetically at Bumblebee. “When are we going to meet again?” he asked.

Bumblebee tilted his head in thought. “How about...tomorrow night? Or maybe the night after that. I have to help Bulkhead with some construction stuff tomorrow.” he said, groaning at the last part.

Blitzwing smiled slightly, shocking Prowl. “Autobot duties are so boring.” he muttered. The Decepticon stood up, once again towering over Bumblebee. “Is this a good meeting spot?” he questioned.

Bumblebee shook his vigorously. “Slag no, not after you fragged up the roof.” He pointed upwards at the gargantuan hole, obviously made by the Decepticon. “How about... the woods outside the city?”

“Sounds good.”

 Prowl nearly sighed in relief when the Decepticon turned towards the ceiling hole, jet engines rumbling in preparation to take flight and leave. His relief was short-lived when he heard Bumblebee call out “Hold up.”

Blitzwing turned back to look at the tiny Autobot, an optic ridge raised.

Bee tilted his head and grinned smugly. “Aren't you forgetting something?” he said.

Prowl was very confused at Bee's words, especially when he watched Blitzwing sigh and step back over to him. The Decepticon knelt back down to his level and pulled Bee closer. Prowl flinched at the contact between the pair.

“You Autobots and your constant need for affection...” Blitzwing mumbled. Prowl felt a wave of apprehension through his systems at the contact between the two bots. Apprehension turned to anxiety when Bee placed his servos on Blitzwing's face, grinning up at him.

Pure shock flooded Prowl when Bumblebee brought Blitzwing's faceplate to his own and crashed their lips together in a kiss.

* * *

Bumblebee slowly eased open the front door to the warehouse, checking to see if there was anyone around before slipping out of the building and closing the door behind him. The remains of the blasted lock still sat on the ground. He felt a small pang of guilt over breaking it earlier, but quickly pushed the feeling away.

The small Autobot transformed into his alt mode and turned on his headlights. The aged lampposts in the vicinity hardly provided enough light to see clearly. Fog had begun to form, and the temperature had also dropped since Bee had entered the warehouse. He shivered as the chill crept across his plating, then began the trip back to base.

The roads of Detroit were completely empty along Bee's route. The silence and boredom of his surroundings prompted Bee to reflect on his most recent meeting with Blitzwing.

Giddiness spread through his spark at the thought of the kiss at the end. Kissing the Decepticon always left him completely breathless. The two had remained liplocked for what had seemed like an eternity, breaking apart when Blitzwing stood up and asserted that he needed to leave. The Decepticon had then transformed into his jet mode and flown away through the hole in the roof.

Meetings between the two always ended in a kiss or hug, as started by Bumblebee. Blitzwing insisted that Autobots were known for being overwhelmingly affectionate, claiming it to be disgusting, but never resisted in reciprocating.

 Bee sped down the deserted road, the giddiness fading slightly when he thought about what he'd have to tell Optimus when he got back to base. _I'm gonna need to make up something about a race..._ he mused. _Maybe I can mention who won? Oh, and I'll say that it lasted a long time. That'll give a reason as to why I was out so la-_

__ His scheming was interrupted when he heard the sound of a rapidly approaching vehicle. Looking through his mirrors, Bee noticed a motorcycle speeding towards him, going way over the speed limit. He was about to turn his attention back to the road but paused when he recognized the motorcycle as Prowl.

His fellow Autobot pulled up next to him, and the two sped along in silence for a few moments. “Hey Prowl, what's goin' on?” Bumblebee called out, feeling a little nervous at the presence of his teammate.

“Bumblebee, pull over.” Prowl commanded, coming to a rapid halt and transforming to his root mode.

Bumblebee braked hard, immediately suspicious of Prowl's intentions. He transformed and walked over to his teammate, cocking his head in confusion. “Is everything ok?” he asked. Prowl grimaced. The ninja bot dragged a servo down his face and vented hard.

Prowl met Bumblebee's optics. “I saw you and Blitzwing.” he said, frowning deeply when he mentioned the Decepticon's name.

Absolute fear flooded Bumblebee.

“Don't tell anyone!” he shouted. Prowl hushed him hastily, glancing around to check if there were any humans. “What did you see? Don't tell Optimus!”

“Calm down, calm down.” Prowl whispered. “You're going to wake up the humans, Bumblebee.” He led Bee over to the side of the road, out of danger of potentially being hit by another vehicle. “I was there for everything tonight.”

His fear heightened, and he vented harshly. He reached out and gripped Prowl's shoulders. “Please, please don't tell Optimus.” he whispered. Wide optics met with Prowl's narrowed ones.

The older Autobot sighed. “I think you need to explain to me what's been going on lately between you and the Decepticon.” he said.

Bumblebee grimaced, the awkwardness of the situation flooding over him. “Yeah, like what?” he replied with a stubborn edge to his voice.

“How long have you been meeting? How did this... _thing_ start?” Prowl asked. He crossed his arms and glared down at the younger bot. “And what exactly have you been doing? _Please_ don't tell me you've been interfacing with him.”

Bumblebee's faceplate heated up, and he quickly pressed his servos against Prowl's mouth. “Shhhh!! Prowl, cut it out!” he yelped. His cooling fans clicked on as his temperature rose with embarrassment.

Prowl muttered something into Bee's servos before shoving them off his mouth. “Answer my questions, Bumblebee,” he said forcefully. “Or I'm going to comm Optimus right now and-”

Bee groaned and waved his servos in protest. “Ok, ok! Relax already!” he said. The two stood in silence for a while. The only sound was Bee's cooling fan, which eventually clicked off. “What...what do you want to know first?”

“How long have you been meeting with the Decepticon?” Prowl replied. “Also, what's the nature of your relationship?'

Bumblebee paused to consider the questions. He tried to remember when he and Blitzwing had first started meeting, though his memories of the events were sort of hazy. “I'm...not sure. I think about 4 months? Maybe 5...” he answered sheepishly. Prowl's mouth dropped down slightly in shock.

“That long? Primus...” the motorcycle said, putting a servo to his forehelm while he absorbed the words. “And your relationship?”

“What do you mean by that?” Bumblebee asked.

“I mean, the nature of your relationship. I assume it's romantic, from what I saw.” Prowl snapped, getting frustrated that he needed to even have this conversation. “I don't think kissing a Decepticon makes you two _just friends_.”

Bumblebee wrung his servos and fidgeted. “I guess that's right...” he trailed off. The question sort of stumped him. His systems gave off a nervous beep. “We usually...talk, and hang out. Sometimes I listen to music with him.” A slight blush appeared on Bee's faceplate. “One of Blitzwing's personalities really likes to sing.”

Prowl growled at the blush on Bee's cheeks, making the smaller bot flinch. He felt his panic begin to return at the interrogation.

“How did this even start? I can't imagine how this could have ever been possible.” Prowl exclaimed.

Bee wracked his processor for an answer. “To be honest, Prowl, I don't think I even know.” he said, shrugging.

“This is so bizarre.”

“Hey!” Bee protested, feeling attacked. “Blitzwing isn't that bad, okay?”

He stepped back when Prowl shot him a deathly glare. “Are you kidding me, Bumblebee? Blitzwing is a Decepticon. If you haven't noticed, he's tried to kill all of us _multiple_ times.” he ranted. “Not to mention that Cons are masters of deception. How do you know Blitzwing isn't using you?”

Bumblebee huffed angrily at his comrade. “He just isn’t, alright?.”

They stood together in silence once again. Awkwardness hung in the air like a fog. Both mechs glanced at each other and frowned.

Bee broke the silence by clearing his vocalizer. “You aren't gonna tell Optimus, right?” he asked. “I can't imagine what he'd do to me if he found out, amirite?” He chuckled awkwardly.

_If Optimus ever found out, I’d probably never leave the base ever again!_ Bee thought. _He’d definitely flip out. Maybe even drag me back to Cybertron on the Elite Guard’s ship._

Prowl raised an optic ridge. “Actually, I'm planning on telling him as soon as we get back to base. He needs to know about this, Bumblebee.” Prowl put a servo on Bee's shoulder, looking slightly sympathetic. “This affects the wellbeing of you and the team.”

Bee's optics widened in horror. _Oh scrap! I'm in so much fragging trouble!_  

Prowl glowered when Bumblebee once again gripped his shoulders, optics wide and desperate. “What can I do to make you not tell him?” he said, denta clenched. “Seriously, Prowl, don't tell him.”

Bee stared up into his teammate's face. Prowl was attempting to maintain a straight face, but it was obvious that he was crumbling under Bee's pathetic attempt to keep his secret. _If I play my cards right, maybe I can get Prowl to stay quiet._ he thought.

Bee widened his optics more, forcing coolant to appear at the edges. “Please, Prowl. I don't want Optimus to punish me.” he pleaded. He smirked internally when Prowl bit his lip at Bee's fake crying display.

“Well... I guess I won't.” Prowl said slowly. Bee began to smile and opened his mouth to spew thanks, but stopped when Prowl continued talking.

“Only if you promise to stop meeting Blitzwing after tomorrow.”

_Aw, frag, this'll be tough to get out of._ Bee thought, already planning around the deal Prowl was offering.

He stuck out his servo and sighed dramatically. “Fine, whatever. Blitzwing won't take it well, though.” he said nastily. The two mechs shook on it. Prowl seemed satisfied with the reaction, and he transformed to his motorcycle mode.

“Let's head back to base, Bumblebee.” he said, revving his engine. Bee also transformed, and the vehicles sped back to the direction of their base.

Bee vented heavily while they drove back. _Slag, this is awful. Having Prowl stalking me is gonna make covering this up much harder._ he thought, feeling intensely irritated at his teammate. _If it had been Bulkhead or Sari who found out, I could have easily gotten them to keep quiet! Lucky me for getting the ninja on my case…_

* * *

Upon arriving back, Prowl eased open the entrance door slowly. Bee entered after him, letting the door slam. Prowl clenched his servos into fists and glared at Bee, who just stalked back to his room.

Prowl shook his helm in disgust. He reflected on the horrible night he had had. The ninja bot was still slightly shocked at the realization that his teammate- especially the youngest, smallest, and most annoying teammate- was in a covert relationship with a Decepticon. Not only was it a dangerous situation, but the nature of the Decepticon himself would make everything about it risky and unpredictable.

Bee's reaction had also been unsettling. Optimus wasn't known for being a harsh leader; he was usually very calm and kind towards his subordinates, though occasionally melancholy. The Prime only lost his temper in extreme situations. _Though this might actually count as an “extreme situation..."_ Prowl thought. He doubted that Optimus would do anything that warranted Bumblebee's panic. The most likely reaction would be scolding, extra monitoring on Bee, and preventing him from going out to see Blitzwing.

Prowl had fully intended to tell Optimus everything until Bee had actually started _crying_. The coolant in his optics had shocked Prowl. He didn't think that Bee would be that afraid of Optimus. The reaction would have been expected if Prowl was going to tell someone like Sentinel Prime, who would have probably yelled his spark out at the young bot. It was an issue he would probably have to bring up as well.

_Perhaps most of his fear came from not being able to see the Decepticon anymore?_ The time they had been together hadn't been that long. Bumblebee tended to get bored easily, making it difficult to comprehend why the relationship was still going. How had they not managed to fight or injure each other in run ins with the Decepticons? They had still been occurring since the return of Megatron. The Decepticons, aside from occasionally stealing construction supplies, were also looking for Allspark fragments.

Prowl felt fear hammer against his spark when he thought about how easy it would be for Blitzwing to offline Bumblebee. Decepticons were typically huge, and Bee was already small for an Autobot. His frametype was meant for speed and stealth, but provided a disadvantage when facing a world much larger than itself. The morbid image of Blitzwing firing upon Bee with his cannons sprang into Prowl's processor before he pushed it away. _This makes ending this relationship even more important, before Bumblebee gets hurt..._

A slight noise brought him out of his musings. Looking up, Prowl noticed Optimus coming out of his room. The team leader yawned and rubbed an optic.

“Hey Prowl. How did everything go?” Optimus whispered. “Did you find anything out about Bumblebee?”

Coldness flooded Prowl's body when he realized that he would need to lie to his leader. He desperately wanted to tell Prime the truth, but he also wanted Bumblebee to learn to be responsible and end the relationship himself.

  _As long as this ends quickly, Optimus will never need to know._ Prowl forced down the guilt and looked his leader in the optics. The incident with the Dinobots jumped into his processor. That secret had ended relatively well, with the Dinobots living peacefully on their island. Optimus had ultimately found out about their existence, but the incident had ended without any major consequences. If that had turned out okay, surely this lie would too?

“Uh...” Prowl hesitated. “I found out...he was telling the truth.” He nearly cringed at the lie. “He went out of the city for the race. I had to follow him all the way out there. He was pretty surprised to see me.” Shame bit against Prowl's spark, and he almost scowled at his own words.

Optimus nodded, completely trusting in Prowl's words. “That's very good to hear. Thank you for going out of your way to do that for me.” he said amiably, patting Prowl's shoulder. “I'm heading back to recharge. I'll make sure and ask Bumblebee about it in the morning.” he said, turning back into his room.

Prowl stood alone in the Autobot base. Everything was completely silent, as if nothing unusual had even happened that night. Prowl sighed wearily, exhaustion started to nag at him. He strode to his room quietly, careful not to wake up any of the sleeping Autobots.

 Upon entering, the massive tree in the middle of the space seemed to call out to Prowl to recharge. A slight breeze ruffled the leaves. The sound soothed Prowl's processor, which had begun to ache slightly. The wildlife that liked to hang out in the branches had disappeared, presumably to return to their own nests. Prowl crouched down and leaped precisely onto one of the largest branches. It shook under his weight but held steady.

Prowl carefully sat down, crossed his legs, and lifted his arms in a meditative position. He vented slowly and evenly, attempting to clear his processor. Various systems powered down until the room was in complete silence, aside from the wind and leaves. Prowl's body relaxed as calmed down. The events of the day still nagged at him, but he tried to push them down.

_It's fine, it's fine, it's fine..._ he chanted internally. _Everything is alright._ The soothing thoughts still didn't stop Prowl from returning back to his worrying. He felt slightly sick as the memory of the kiss jumped back into his processor. The mental image of Blitzwing pulling Bee suffocatingly close, both bots practically melting into each other,made his tanks roll from anxiety. He felt himself sway on the tree branch, and he gripped it to steady himself.

Prowl shuddered when he thought about what else the two might be doing. A mental image of Blitzwing's servos drifting down Bumblebee's body shocked Prowl entirely out of his calm state. He shook his helm and put his servos in his hands.

“This is disgusting.” he said out loud.


	2. Chapter 2

Optimus was pulled out of recharge to the distant sound of Ratchet yelling. The windows filtered in sunlight, which made him squint his optics. He nearly fell back into recharge, but was awoken by a crash from the main room. Optimus groaned and rubbed his optics. _Sounds like the team has already started the day off on the wrong pede..._

His helm ached slightly. _How late did I stay up last night?_ He thought hazily. The memories of the incident from last night with Bumblebee, and giving Prowl his mission, appeared in his processor. _Oh, right. I need to make sure and have a talk with Prowl today about his findings._ Putting out a stabilizing servo, he pushed himself off the berth and walked to the main room.

The sight that greeted him was Sari perched on a fallen pile of energon cubes, contentedly eating a bowl of cereal, while Bumblebee zoomed around the pile on his pede's wheels. Ratchet stood to the side, hollering at Bee to pick to restack the piles and quit messing around. Bulkhead calmly sat on the couch, sipping on his own energon cube. Optimus approached him.

“Good morning, Bulkhead. Care to tell me what I've been missing here?” he asked. Bulkhead put down his cube and wiped his mouth.

“Hey, Bossbot. Well, it's not that exciting. Bumblebee tipped over the stack of energon cubes when he went to get his morning cube.” he said. Bee braked hard and smirked over at them.

“At least I looked totally cool doing it. I did a backflip and caught a cube of the top of the pile!” Sari cheered tiredly from atop the downed pile, waving her spoon around. Ratchet grunted and folded his arms.

“I'm surprised you didn't break your backstrut pulling that stunt. Now get these cubes back in order or I'll make you clean the whole medbay with no breaks!” The medic huffed loudly as he stalked out of the room. Bee groaned loudly, but reluctantly started building the pile up again. Sari jumped down and joined Bulkhead on the couch. “So, Optimus,” she said. “What's the plan for today?”

Optimus internally reviewed the list of tasks that needed to be completed. “Bumblebee and Bulkhead are going out to help with repairs to the city, and Ratchet and I are going out to Teletran-1 and doing some repairs.” _She probably can't come along on construction trips, so I'll need to ask her to stay at the base._ “Prowl's going to stay back here and monitor Decepticon and Allspark activity. Why don't you stay and help him?”

Sari nodded thoughtfully. “Is it ok if I come with you and Ratchet? I want to check out the ship some more.”

“That's fine.” he replied. _Prowl will probably be happy to get some alone time, anyways._ He scanned the room for the ninja bot, but found that his team member was nowhere to be seen. “Has anybot actually _seen_ Prowl today? I need to tell him he's on monitoring duty.”

Bee looked up from stacking the energon cubes. “I think he might actually still be recharging.”

Bulkhead rubbed his helm and hummed in confusion. “Isn't Prowl usually the first one up? Every time I come out of my room in the morning, he's already been out here since at least dawn.” The bots and human in the room all glanced at each other. “Do you think I should go wake him up?”

“That's ok Bulkhead, I'll go get him. I need to talk with him about something anyways.” Optimus looked over at Bumblebee. The young bot looked slightly nervous as he met Optimus' optics, but the look vanished quickly. _He's probably worried about Prowl telling me about him going to the race. After I talk with him, I'll make sure to tell Bee that he isn't in any trouble._

Optimus strode through the base's hallway to the closed door of Prowl's room. He knocked against it. “Prowl, are you up yet?” he called out, trying to sound cheerful. No response came for a while. Optimus nearly knocked again, but the door eased open just as he was raising his fist to do so. Prowl stepped outside. Optimus was surprised at how tired his teammate looked. The ninja bot's shoulders drooped, and his optics were dim and half-closed in exhaustion.

“Hello, Optimus.” Prowl appeared to be stifling a yawn. The Prime wanted to tell his subordinate to just go back inside and rest, but Autobot duties came first.

“Prowl, did  you...get enough recharge last night?” Optimus asked. His teammate looked confused at the statement, but quickly straightened up and tried to look alert.

“Not really, no. I... guess I'm tired from chasing down Bumblebee last night.” Prowl nodded at his words. “It's fine, though, it wasn't a big deal.”

Optimus tilted his helm skeptically. _It really isn't fine if he stayed up all night because of it..._ “If you say so. You should make sure and go to recharge early today, though. Otherwise, you're on monitoring duty while Bumblebee and Bulkhead head out to do construction work. Ratchet and I are going to do some maintenance on the ship. Sari's coming with us, so you'll get some peace and quiet.”

Prowl nodded in affirmation and began to walk to the main room. Optimus called out to him. “Hold on. After I get back to base, could you meet me in my room so we can discuss your mission from last night? As long as you're up for it, of course.” Optimus noticed that his teammate hesitated before answering.

“Of course, that's fine.” The ninja walked out of the hallway, leaving Optimus by himself. _Alright, now that I have the team organized, I can get my morning energon and head out to the island with Ratchet._

He strode back into the main room and grabbed an energon cube from the rebuilt pile. Bumblebee and Bulkhead had disappeared, off to perform their duties. Prowl had already settled on the couch. The TV was rapidly flipping through news channels. The Autobots were severely limited in their monitoring technology, and the incapacitated ship didn't provide much assistance in the matter. Television provided the best coverage for unusual activity happening in the city, though Bumblebee and Sari usually ended up watching cartoons instead of doing their work.

Ratchet walked into the room carrying various handheld medical tools in a box. “I figured I'd take some equipment back up to the ship for safe keeping.” he said to Optimus. The medic hoisted the box closer and peered inside. “Most of this is just taking up space. Not to mention that it's not safe for the younger bots. Or human.” He glowered, probably thinking of the many incidents where Bulkhead had knocked an item down in the medbay, sending it crashing to the floor and shattering.

Optimus reached out and helped Ratchet carry it. “That's a good idea, actually. This place has gotten fairly cluttered with our own stuff.” _Not to mention it was never clean to begin with._  “We should probably spend a day clearing out our rooms and bringing anything unnecessary out to the ship's containers.” The two Autobots maneuvered themselves out the front door, the box supported between them.

Both of them transformed when they got outside. Sari then ran out of the building, changed out of her pajamas and yelled at the bots to not leave her. Ratchet opened his door and she jumped in, rocketing into the driver's seat.

“Whew, thanks. I thought I was gonna be stuck here with the sleepy bot.” she said. “Why's he so tired anyways?”

Optimus cringed internally when he realized that he'd have to tell Sari and Ratchet about Prowl's mission from last night. He pulled out onto the road, Ratchet following close behind. He heard Ratchet ping him over his comm link.

“Yeah, Prime. Prowl's usually the one in top shape around here. Not like Bumblebee and _Sari_ , always staying up to Primus forsaken hours of the morning...” he grumbled.

The Prime cleared his vocalizer awkwardly. “Well...I actually sent him on a small mission last night.” He felt slightly embarrassed when both Ratchet and Sari instantaneously began demanding to know all about it.

“It's just...well, I'm pretty sure you guys have noticed Bumblebee acting...weird, right?” Optimus said hesitantly. He led the team onto the next road on the route to Dinobot Island.

“Maybe?” Sari said, just as Ratchet replied with a scoff and “Believe me, we all have.”

Optimus groaned at Sari's reaction. “I'll get you caught up later, Sari. It's sort of complicated. Anyway, Bumblebee left the base last night, so I asked Prowl to follow him and find out if he had told me the truth about where he was going. Prowl got back pretty late, but he said he didn't mind.”

Prolonged silence over the comm link made Optimus slightly nervous. He was startled when he heard Sari speak again.

“Don't you think that's a little overbearing? I'd pretty much call that stalking him.” she said.

Ratchet scoffed at her words. “If you ask me, I think it was a good idea. Bumblebee has been acting all suspicious and I've been wanting to get to the bottom of it myself.” Optimus heard Sari begin to ask a question, but she cut off and stayed silent for the rest of the ride.

The Autobots eventually took a ferry out to the island and hiked up to the crash site of the ship. Ratchet complained about sand getting in his gears on the way, but the trip was smooth otherwise . Optimus expected the Dinobots to come rushing out of the foliage at any moment. Thankfully, there was no sign of the territorial bots.

Only some of the lights inside the ship turned on when they entered, making everyone squint to make out details in the partial darkness. Ratchet went straight to the storage room, taking his medical tools with him, while Optimus went to the control panel. Sari followed him, running alongside to keep up.

There was a crack in the floor that Optimus had to sidestep, and the window was shattered, but the control room was otherwise in good condition. He approached the main control board and began powering up the ship.

 _Once the ship comes back online, I can run a diagnostic scan and find out the full extent of the problems._ The low rumble of the ship powering up shook the floor slightly. _Most of the damage is on the hull, which shouldn't be too hard to fix if I can get supplies from the warehouse. Maybe if I ask the mayor, he'll give me some resources. It's doubtful that I'll get any aid from Sumdac Systems...unless Powell wants us to leave so bad that he helps. Perhaps he’d get his workers to completely repair it, if he got the chance._

Sari had managed to climb onto the control board. She sidestepped the buttons and screens until she stood in front of Optimus.

“So when you guys were talking about Bee acting all suspicious...did you mean him sneaking out and lying to everyone?”

Optimus recoiled at her words. “He's been lying to us? And you knew about it?” _I shouldn't be surprised. Those two are a good team when it comes to twisting the truth..._

Sari ducked her head sheepishly. “If he’s been going out to have fun all the time, I would have known about it!” An angry blush appeared on her cheeks. “I hang around him enough to tell when he lies to you guys, even if it’s just about skipping out on Autobot stuff.”

The Prime shifted uncomfortably. “I suspected that he's been lying, but I wasn't completely sure! It's not good for a leader to be suspicious of his teammates all the time. I have to have faith in him, I guess.”

She settled down on the control board. “It's weird, cause he won't tell me where he's been going all this time. Not to mention we don't hang out as much anymore...” She sighed sadly and looked up at Optimus. “So where has he been going?”

“Prowl said he was telling the truth about going out to a race.” Optimus replied. “I guess Bumblebee wasn't lying about that incident?”

Sari tilted her head. “Yeah, right. What if Prowl lied to you too? I wouldn't put it past him. Wasn't there drama with the Dinobots or something?”

Optimus raised an optic at her statement. _That's true, Prowl and Bulkhead did lie about their existence on the island,_ A slight twinge of apprehension pulsed in his spark. _He wouldn't keep secrets about vital information, though. Right? Then again, my crew hasn't been the best about staying in line or respecting orders..._

He pushed the paranoid thoughts to the back of his processor, nudged Sari aside, and looked over the scan results. Reports about corrupted code, functioning ability, and fuel loss popped up on the screen. He began to sort through them while Sari took off to explore the ship.

The Autobots spent most of the day cleaning the interior of the ship and patching up the broken windshield. A rip in the hull had allowed dirt, rocks, and other debris from the island inside. Scooping out the rubble had taken both bots hours of effort, leaving them dusty and worn out. When the team left the island, the sun had begun to set.

They came back to the base, greeted by Bulkhead, who was painting the sunset. Prowl was still on monitoring duty, the TV blaring a story about the mayor banning a line of Sumdac robots, while Bee took a stasis nap beside him on the couch. The sound of the door slamming behind Ratchet woke him, and he groggily waved to the approaching bots.

“So, Prowl, anything interesting happen on the news today?” Optimus asked. The cyberninja looked even more tired than he had in the morning. His optics were dim and it took a moment for him to register Optimus' question.

 _Scrap, maybe I should let him have a day off tomorrow._ The Prime felt guilty at his teammate's sacrifice of his recharge. Prowl turned off the TV and turned to face the Prime.

“There haven't been any signs of Decepticon activity today. I believe our last encounter was weeks ago. There hasn't been any word of Professor Sumdac, either. There was mostly just general news on today.” he reported. “Bumblebee and Bulkhead were on the news when they were out doing construction work.”

Bee grinned widely. “It's pretty great being a local celebrity, don't you think? I just hope the paparazzi got my good side.” He jumped up and struck a pose, making Sari laugh and Ratchet groan.

Optimus nodded in approval. “Good work, everyone.” He turned towards Bee. “Can you go out can get Sari some food? While you're at it, just go ahead and go food shopping. We haven't had anything for her to eat around here in a while besides cereal.”

Bee hastily saluted and picked Sari up. “You got it, Boss-bot!” Sari cheered and started naming all the kinds of junk food she wanted to get. Optimus groaned internally as they raced out the door.

 _I doubt those two are going to get anything healthy..._ he grumbled internally. He sat down beside Prowl on the couch, and Ratchet returned to his position in the med bay. The Prime's backstrut and pedes ached from the laborious work. He rubbed his optics and vented heavily, briefly wondering if he should give the whole team a break the next day. The thought of Prowl's recharge situation reminded him of the mission from the night before, and the discussion he had requested from his teammate.

“Prowl, could you give me a more detailed report of your findings on Bumblebee from last night?” he asked, optics still closed. He didn't hear any reaction from the ninja bot. The only sound that could be heard was a faint curse from Bulkhead. Optimus opened his optics and glanced out the window to see that the big bot had tipped over a can of paint.

He focused his attention back to Prowl when he heard his friend shuffle his pedes.

“There really isn't that much to tell, to be honest.” Prowl put his servo to his chin in thought. “I commed you when I passed Bumblebee on an overpass, and after that I...followed him to a race outside the city.” He nodded to himself and glanced at Optimus.

“Did he participate in the race?” Optimus asked. “I've heard him and Sari talking about wanting to do that one day.”

Prowl shook his helm. “No, he just sat on the sidelines in vehicle mode and watched. I, uh, approached him and asked how he was doing. He was pretty annoyed that I had followed him.”

The two sat and talked for a while longer. Optimus asked more questions about how Bumblebee reacted and where he had been going. The Prime wanted to know if the youngest teammate had shown any suspicious signs of lying, but Prowl relayed that he was confident that Bee had just been going to races and other forms of entertainment. The cyberninja claimed that Bee had said he didn't want Optimus to take away his ability to leave the base at night if he found out Bee was going out for something he thought the older bot might disapprove of.

Optimus felt slightly sad that his youngest teammate didn't seem to trust him that much. _I know I've been harsh to him in the past, but it's not like I'm Sentinel!_ he vented internally.

He patted Prowl on the shoulder and stood up. “Thanks again for helping me out. I'm relieved there isn't anything wrong. Bumblebee probably shouldn't stay out so late, though. It's not good for him.” _If I assign everyone to help clean out the base tomorrow, maybe I can let Prowl have most of the day off. His room is the neatest place in the whole building._ “Why don't you take some time off tomorrow? I'd hate for you to stay tired like this.”

Prowl nodded slowly and gave Prime a tight smile. “I think I'll take you up on that offer,” He stood and stretched. “I'll go to recharge early and get started on that.” he said, and strode off to his room.

Optimus felt nervous at the anxious stance of the mech as he turned around a corner. _I hope that something else isn't bothering him, the Prime thought wistfully. It's not like Prowl to lose his composure._ A prickle of uneasiness made him shudder slightly and shake his head. _I need to trust my teammates to take of themselves, but I'll keep an optic on him._

Optimus felt the pull of exhaustion from the day's hard work lead him to his own and the berth. He closed his optics and vented deeply. The sound of the door opening and Bulkhead calling out to Ratchet to look at his painting reached his audials. Fondness for his teammate pulsed in his spark, along with the rest of his ragtag team.

 _They may not be perfect, but everyone's been doing their best while we're out here fighting the Decepticons._ He thought of the moments when everyone had worked in harmony, from taking down a villain to playing a game at base. The memory of the battle with the Decepticons popped into his processor, and then another of the team during a movie marathon with Sari. The optimistic memories calmed the rising nervousness in his spark and lulled him into recharge.

* * *

Bee and Sari cheered wildly as they sped back to the base. The pair had stopped at a fast food place and were now returning home, going well over the speed limit. The radio was blasting pop music, the bass shaking Sari and Bee's alt mode.

Sari stuck her head out the window. Her pigtails flapped wildly in the wind and she stuffed a fistful of french fries in her mouth.

“We're going so fast, it almost feels like flying!” she hollered.

“When you're the fastest thing on wheels, anything is possible!” Bee yelled over the music, turning the volume up even more when the song changed to a fast dance tune. The two sang along and continued home. Adrenaline coursed through Bee's energon lines from the speed, making him feel dizzy and excited.

Sari turned off the radio when they rolled up to the base's entrance. The sun had set and stars dotted the sky, dimmed down from the city's light pollution. Bee transformed and opened the door dramatically, bowing to Sari and gesturing for her to enter. She giggled and strode in. The only bot still up when they entered was Ratchet, who was sitting on the couch, reading a data pad. He grunted in acknowledgement when they walked past him.

Bee and Sari parted ways when they reached her room. The bot lightly patted her head and grinned.

“See ya in the morning, Sari! Don't let the bed bots bite.” He winked and gave her a thumbs up. She repeated the gesture and retired to her room.

As soon as her door closed, Bee let the cheeky grin fall off his face. He tiptoed back to his room, noticing that Ratchet had gone to his and turned off all the lights.

The door to his room creaked slightly when he closed it behind him. His optics slowly adjusted to the inky darkness before him as he leaned back on the wall. The giddiness from the earlier joyride had been replaced with a mixture of excitement and fear. He checked his internal chronometer. The time declared that he had to wait about an hour to go out and see Blitzwing again.

Going out to see the Decepticon always left Bee with a mixture of anxiety and elation from the danger of being caught. When he first started sneaking out, the feeling had been nearly overwhelming and almost painful. Now, the sensation only vaguely nipped at his spark.

He had managed to settle into a habit of sneaking out: go out late at night, when the other Autobots would be in recharge, and make up a story about engaging in Detroit's nightlife.

The act of sneaking out wasn't always easy. Bee considered his options; the door was the fastest option, but he didn't want his teammates to know he was leaving the base. The next best option was a window. They were situated in the main room and were the right size for the smallest bot to fit through. While it didn't make noise when it opened, like the door, it was a challenge to get through without making a racket.

He weighed the options in his head before deciding on the window option. He nodded to himself at the decision and vented evenly. He walked over and laid down on the berth, settling into it to pass the time.

 _If I don't find a way around Prowl's snooping, I'm going to be slagged for sure,_ he thought. _Planning around this is going to be hard. He'll probably keep checking up on me after tonight,_ He buried his faceplate in his servos. _It's not fair! He doesn't know Blitzwing like I do!_ **  
**

The Decepticon mostly kept information about himself and his faction to a minimum. Occasionally a small detail would slip through; Hothead Blitzwing had divulged information about himself in a furious rant, and Random generally didn't have a filter on anything he said, even revealing Lugnut's fear of the dark to Bee. Bumblebee felt he knew the Decepticon more personally than anyone else on Earth, or even among the Decepticons.

The hour flew by fast while Bee planned out how he'd handle Prowl. None of his ideas were conclusive; they had ranged between talking to Blitzwing through comm link to asking to visit the Decepticon base. All of them were scrapped when he realized they wouldn't get past Prowl or Blitzwing. He groaned in irritation.

 _I'll just figure it out later, I guess._ he thought bitterly. His chronometer signaled the time to leave, pulling him out of his scheming. He rolled off the berth and tiptoed to the door. Peering out into the hallway, he saw no signs of the other Autobots. He sighed in relief.

 _As long as I'm quiet, maybe I can avoid Prowl for tonight._ Bee crept into the main room and up to a window. He placed his servos on the glass and eased it open gently. His spark jumped at a slight creak as it fell back on it's hinges. **  
**

Once the window was open a sufficient amount, he stuck a leg through and put it on the ground outside. The crunch of gravel from outside made him flinch. Maneuvering the rest of his body outside took time and precision. He felt proud of himself when he finally closed the window shut.

“You could have just gone through the door.”

Bee yelped and swung around to see Prowl sitting on the top of the roof, observing the yellow bot.

Bee gritted his denta and glared up at him. “How long have you been watching me?”

Prowl slid off the edge of the roof and landed lightly in front of Bee. They met each other's optics and Bee felt his plating crawl with unease.

“Long enough to see you look like a fool.” Prowl said. A flash of anger nearly made Bee respond with a sharper insult, but he held back when he noticed the tense demeanor of the cyberninja. They stood in awkward silence for a klik, the only sound being the occasional shuffle of Bee's pedes in the gravel. Eventually, Prowl crossed his arms and cleared his vocalizer.

“You're going out to see the Decepticon again, aren't you?” he asked. Suspicion arose in Bee at Prowl's intentions.

 _Is he going to try and follow me or something? Or is this going to be like his rant from last night?_  Bee thought. “Where else would I be going?” he lashed out at Prowl. The ninja held a stoic expression, but the younger bot noticed how his plating bristled in annoyance.

“You're still going to follow my advice and end this thing, right? I seriously don't want to get any more involved,” Prowl's optics flashed with intensity to emphasize his message. “I'm sure _Optimus_ wouldn't either.” The warning was a clear restatement of what he had said last night. Bee felt pent up anger towards Prowl threatening to spill out, but he forced it down and nodded.

 _If I act super upset and rude to him, then he'll think I'm upset over actually ending it! As long as I have a convincing reaction, I can work my way around this,_ he thought. He pulled his mouth into a pouty frown and forced himself to glare hard at Prowl. “Yeah, I'll make sure and tell Blitzwing you said hi while I'm at it.” he said sarcastically.

Prowl's mouth turned down and he grimaced, but nodded in approval anyways. “Good. I'm not going to follow you,” Bee nearly vented a sigh of relief. “But if you take forever to get this done, I might come out looking for you. This needs to end as fast as possible.”

Bee didn't need to fake the sour expression that appeared on his faceplate. “Yeah, whatever! Just leave me alone, ok?” He threw up his servos and stomped a pede in the gravel. The dramatic display seemed to do the trick as Prowl put up his servos and shushed Bee, backing off.

“See you back at base, then.” Prowl said, and jumped back on the base roof and out of sight. Bee watched his surroundings for a while longer, checking to see if the bot would reappear. He still felt nervous that the mech was still watching him as he drove away. The roads to the woods were completely clear of other cars. Bee took the opportunity to transform and look to see if his teammate was following him every once in a while. Paranoia had replaced the intoxicating rush of excitement and anxiety from earlier.

He pulled into a parking lot to a hiking trail near the meeting spot. The particular location had been used less frequently as a meeting spot between the two bots- Blitzwing had accidentally revealed it was very close to the Decepticon base- and was a potential hazard when there were humans out camping.

The trees were thinned out enough for Bumblebee to maneuver between them with ease, due to his small size. The specific location of the meeting spot was at a small clearing near a rock outcropping, far away from the pathway humans stuck to. Even though the trees were spaced apart, branches and foliage hit Bee's faceplate and attempted to trip him up. He cursed and grumbled as he got a pede tangled in a vine.

Eventually, he made it to the clearing. Bee was surprised to see that he had arrived before Blitzwing. The Icy and Hothead personalities tended to be punctual, while Random was extremely unpredictable. _I hope he didn't forget to show up._ Bee thought. The solitary sound of insects chirping creeped him out. His plating shuddered in displeasure.

Bumblebee groaned internally when he realized he'd have to tell Blitzwing about Prowl's snooping. A pang of worry over how the Decepticon would react made his spark ache. Everything about the mech was unpredictable. Hothead Blitzwing was a force to be reckoned with, and would most likely have the worst reaction. Icy would be analytical about the situation and work around it. _Random could probably find a way to make a joke and laugh in my face,_ Bee thought glumly. _I'll just have to see how he reacts and go from there._

The sudden sound of jet engines made Bee jump, squinting his optics as the wind from the approaching jet shook the leaves and trees around him. Blitzwing's plane alt mode appeared in the sky, and the Decepticon swiftly transformed to his robot mode and dropped down into the clearing. The ground shook with the force of the impact.

Blitzwing straightened and took a step towards Bumblebee, huge pede imprints left in the ground behind him. His Random personality was on display. The Decepticon leered at Bee and he hummed a fast tune. “Hey Bug!” he called out. His shrill voice grated on Bee's audials, but the Autobot smiled up at him anyways. The residual feeling of nervousness still bothered him, but he shoved it down.

“What's up, Decepticreep,” he said playfully. “How've you been?” The Decepticons face switched over to Hothead, who scowled and clenched his fists.

“Terrible! Lugnut convinced Lord Megatron to send me out to do all the errands today! While he did nothing!” The Decepticon yelled. Bee settled back on one of the rock outcroppings. Rants about Lugnut were common, as the other Decepticon's obnoxious devotion to Megatron made him a teamwork disaster.

Random Blitzwing reappeared and smirked. “He probably spent the whole day kissing Lord Megatron's aft! Ha!” Bee tried to laugh a little, but the interaction with Prowl had reappeared in his processor. Icy Blitzwing appeared and leaned closer to the yellow bot.

“That was definitely forced.” he observed. “You look tense as well. Is something bothering you?”

Bee rubbed the back of his neckplate. _It's now or never._ “Well, you see, it's a funny story actually!” he chuckled nervously. “Well, kind of. One of the other Autobots- Prowl, actually- kind of found out about our...thing? I tried to get him off my tailpipe but he told me he'd tell our team leader if I didn't 'break up with you.'” He fidgeted and looked up to see the Decepticon's reaction.

Blitzwing had remained on Icy, who looked unmoved by what Bee had said. The Decepticon narrowed his optic in thought. “Are you surprised by this?” he asked, stooping down to Bee's level. The Autobot threw his servos up.

“I don't know! It's bad, though! I haven't figured out how I'll work around it.” he snapped. Frustration edged into his tone. Blitzwing scoffed.

“I've been expecting one of your Autobots to find out. The big green one is probably still clueless, but the cyberninja is quite perceptive.” he said. Icy abruptly switched over to Random. “Ooh, this is exciting, don't you think? Almost like a reality TV show!”

Bumblebee wondered where he had picked up on Earth television terms, but decided to bring it up later. He reached out and put their servos together, the contact easing his rising anger. “Prowl's threatening to tell Optimus about us, and it's not fair!” Bee kicked out at the air.

Icy Blitzwing reappeared. “Don't throw a fit.” he murmured. “How are going to get the Autobot to leave you alone? I assume you've been making up stories to tell your teammates.”

A pang of guilt hit Bumblebee hard. “I have been, but that's obviously not working anymore.” he replied. He met the Decepticons steely optics. “What do you tell your teammates?”

“Nothing. They don't care what I do, as long as I perform my duties.” Blitzwing said. Bumblebee slipped off the rock and leaned against Blitzwing's chassis. The faint sound of the Decepticon's pulsing spark made his own spark race and processor dizzy.

“I wish my teammates were like that,” Bee mumbled. “They even get mad when I hang out with Sari without telling anyone. They don't trust me with my own friend!” he ranted, pent up frustration beginning to bubble out. “I'm not just some dumb protoform.”

An affirmative hum rumbled Blitzwing's chassis. “Of course you aren't.” The Decepticon agreed. “Which means you'll come up with a solution, right?”

Bee looked up into his optics again. _Since this has gone so well, maybe I can just get him to come up with an idea!_ He thought. “I was sort of hoping you could do that for me?” he said sheepishly, tightening his grip on the Triple Changer's servos. Dismay leaped into his spark when Hothead appeared and glowered at him.

“Do I like a charity case? Solve your own problems!” he grumbled. “I can't help you with Autobot things!” His chassis heated up as the personality took over, and Bee pulled back at the uncomfortable temperature.

“I'll try, I guess.” Bee looked at his pedes. He was beginning to feel overwhelmed, the Decepticon’s huge presence around him not helping to ease the feeling. He heard the _click whir_ of another face change. Icy's smooth voice reached his audials.

“Don't you want to keep seeing me? That's not possible if you can't work this out.” Blitzwing said evenly. His cold tone grated on Bumblebee's nerves. He buried his faceplate in the Decepticons neck.

“Of course, of course I do,” Bee said frantically. “ Just give me some time, ok? I have regular Autobot stuff I need to do, too.” He felt Blitzwing's arms wrap around him in a tight embrace. Bee melted into the touch.

“That's my good little Autobot.” He heard Blitzwing murmur into his audials. Icy pulled them apart and cupped his servos around Bee's faceplate, pulling them into a brief kiss. The Autobot's faceplate heated up rapidly and he attempted to think of something witty to say. Random appeared and cackled wildly, pointing at Bee.

“You're blushing! How cute!” he cooed, patting Bumblebee on the helm. The smaller bot shoved his servo off, plating bristling. “Don't call me cute!” he shouted, covering his blush with his servos. He huffed in annoyance, though secretly enjoying the attention on the inside.

Prowl’s warning appeared back in his processor, and he checked his chronometer. His systems beeped in alarm when he realized the time was reaching a critical point. Icy Blitzwing returned and he shot Bee a questioning look.

“Prowl might come find me if I stay out too long,” Bee looked up at Blitzwing when he heard the telltale _click whir_. Hothead Blitzwing scowled poisonously at the words, but he stayed silent. Bee felt the paranoia return, and he looked over his shoulders for signs of the other Autobot. “I should probably go. Meet me back here in a week, ok?”

“Sure,” Blitzwing said. _Click whir_ “You’ll have everything worked out by then, right?” Icy Blitzwing asked. Bee thought he heard a threat edged in the statement, but he shook off the feeling of growing unease.

“Yes? Maybe,” Bee faltered, backing up. “Just don’t forget to show up.” Blitzwing nodded and stood up. Bee leapt forward and quickly hugged his chassis before running back in the direction he came from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Garnet voice) Yikes, they are not good for each other.


	3. Chapter 3

“Bumblebee! Are you even listening to me?”

Bee stared groggily into his energon cube and nodded. “Yeah, definitely.” He glanced over at the source of the shouting, Sari, and gave her a thumbs up. The two were lounging on the couch for morning refuel.

Sari narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh yeah? Then what was I telling you just now?” Bumblebee felt his spark sink when he realized he didn't remember anything she had said.

“Okay, you got me. I was zoning out.” he admitted. He had stayed up late trying to find new ways to fool his teammates and continue seeing Blitzwing. None of his ideas proved potentially useful; the most plausible one would have involved locking Prowl in his room so he couldn't follow Bee. He could feel his optics drooping as he tried to refocus on his friend.

Sari shook her head in disappointment. “I was telling you about the super cool dream I had last night?” She huffed indignantly and shoveled cereal into her mouth.

“Oh, right.” His foggy processor switched back to coming up with a solution while she continued to talk. _What if I could somehow move meetings to the day? Then Prowl would be a lot less suspicious. Though everyone would be suspicious if I skipped out on Autobot stuff all the time..._ He closed his optics and sighed wearily, recharge threatening to take over.

The sound of Optimus greeting Sari snapped him awake. He straightened up and tried to look alert as the Prime leaned against the wall. Sari struck up a conversation about her dream with him, allowing Bee to get up and head in the direction of his room, intending to claim a few kliks of recharge. 

Just as he was about to open its door, Prowl exited his own room. Bee tried to ignore him and slip into his room, but was forced to turn around when Prowl cleared his vocalizer.

“Can I help you?” Bee whispered harshly at him. _He's going to ask about last night, obviously._ He scratched at his plating nervously. He noted that Ratchet and Bulkhead's rooms were in earshot to what Prowl was going to say.

Prowl stared at him awkwardly, making Bee's plating itch more, though he resisted the urge to keep fidgeting. The cyberninja leaned over and cleared his vocalizer again.

“Did everything work out okay last night?” he whispered. Bumblebee didn't need to fake the grumble that followed. _Slag, I should have come up with a story to tell him._ The younger Autobot put on his best pouting face and glared at Prowl harshly. Annoyance pricked at his spark.

“For you, I guess.” he lied. Bee looked away, not wanting to see the satisfied look on Prowl's faceplate. He didn't hear any reaction for a few nanoclicks.

A slight shuffle of pedes broke the silence. “Are you okay?” Prowl's question made Bumblebee look at him in surprise, but he quickly covered it up with a sour expression.

Bee scoffed and forced a sarcastic grin on his face. “Yeah, never been better!” He folded his arms and hunched his shoulders. “I love having other bots mess with my personal life!” Venomous satisfaction filled him when he saw the hurt expression on Prowl's faceplate.

The older bot smacked his servo to his forehelm. “What I meant by that was, are you in any danger from the Decepticon?” he hissed. “I'm trying to look after you.”

_Oh._ “No,” Bumblebee muttered, slightly surprised by the question. “I'm fine.” The satisfaction at Prowl's anger fizzled out. Prickles of guilt nipped at his spark, but he pushed them back down.

Prowl sighed wearily and turned to walk away. “Alright, that's all I needed to know.” He strode out of the hallway, leaving Bumblebee by himself. The desire to take a stasis nap was completely gone, apprehension keeping him fully awake. He slipped into his room and sat down on the berth. Triumph overtook his anxiety after a few kliks, and he smirked to himself. _You think you can stop me, Prowl? Yeah, right! I can work my way out of anything you throw at me!_

The accomplishment was short-lived when the present situation reappeared in his processor. He slumped into the berth and sighed.

_Okay, maybe not everything you throw at me._ He thought. _Maybe I can convince Prowl to leave me alone by not seeing Blitzwing for a long time? Nah, then I wouldn't be able to sneak out next week._

Slight desperation overtook him, and he squeezed his optics shut as anxiety flared in his spark again. _Frag Prowl for putting me in this situation anyways!_

He vented furiously and flipped over on the berth. Prowl's hurt expression from their conversation made him angrier. _He doesn't care, he just wants to make my life difficult!_ He ranted. _If he cared, the he'd just leave us alone!_ A small sigh of frustration escaped his vocalizer.

The mental image of Blitzwing criticizing him for not coming up with a solution leaped into his processor, followed by a bolt of fear. He buried his faceplate in his servos and vented sharply.

_What if Blitzwing stops wanting to see me if I don't figure this out?_ The sudden paranoid thought made his spark beat like it was dying. _No, that's stupid, of course he wouldn't do that._ Pain gripped his chestplate from the pressure on his spark. The urge to run and hide somewhere struck him, but he shook his helm to push it down.

Bee sat up on the berth and pulled his knees to his chestplate. He vented evenly until the anxiety was under control. His chronometer clicked by steadily; watching the dial go by soothed his spark until the pace slowed to normal. _I'll figure something out eventually._ He reassured himself. _I have to._

He drew his knees closer to his frame, laying his helm on them. Offlining his optics, he could hear distant conversation from further in the plant. A burst of laughter rang down the hall. Bee hunched his shoulders and scowled, spite flowing through him towards the other Autobots.

The cheerful tones made him want to pull out his audio receptors, but he pushed their voices out to concentrate on the situation at hand.

_Maybe I could convince Blitzy to roll with the Autobots?_ The idea sounded stupid as soon as it crossed his mind. The thought of him going over to the Decepticons popped up, but he instantly pushed it down and shuddered.

A knock on his door brought him out of his musings. Annoyance rose as he slid off the berth and opened the door.

Bulkhead stood outside, and the larger bot smiled at his friend. “Hey there Bumblebee! You just missed Prime giving out orders for the day.” He leaned down to Bee's height and cocked his helm. “Are you feeling alright? Prime said you looked ill when he said hi earlier on.”

Ill? The words sounded strange to him. He didn't remember feeling anything besides exhaustion. Bumblebee shook and helm and forced a smile. “I'm fine, just tired from staying up late.” he reassured him. _That technically wasn't even a lie..._ “What did Bossbot have to say?”

Bulkhead tapped a digit to his chin. “He said the agenda was for everyone to help clean up the base, starting with our rooms. It's gotten messy around here.” He peered into Bee's room, observing the junk piled up around the walls. A dark layer of grime coated the walls from age and neglect, making the atmosphere uninviting and distasteful. “Gosh, Bumblebee, I think you're gonna have the most work.”

_At least Bossbot didn't give me patrol duty, or I'd never get a solution worked out._ Bee thought. He turned to look at the mess Bulkhead was talking about. _I can just shove this all somewhere and keep working at it._

He turned back to his friend and shrugged. “Not as bad as all your art and spacebridge stuff piled around everywhere.” he retorted. He recalled tripping over a colorful pile of twisted metal, which had ended up being one of Bulkhead's discarded creations.

Bulkhead looked at his pedes and nodded. “Uh, you might be right about that. I'm just gonna go work on that...” He stepped back, muttering to himself about where he left his paint around the base.

Bee spent the next few hours rearranging all of his stuff, in an attempt to make it look neater. He came up with new ideas as he went, methodically creating and discarding them as he went. He kicked a can of oil in frustration at one point, then had to clean up the resulting leak.

_This sucks!_ He stalked out of his room, carrying trash to throw out. _If I could get Bulkhead to help me out, this would be so much easier. But I can't get any of my teammates to help me or-_

“Hey Bee! Check this out!”

Sari's voice broke through his monologue, and he turned his helm towards her. She was holding up a rolled up poster and waving it in the air excitedly. “I dug up this super old wrestling poster! Could you help me put it up with the others?” She asked.

Bee opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden idea stopped him in his tracks. _What if I got_ Sari _to help me get past Prowl?_

He gasped as the idea caught on. “Sari, that's it!” he shouted, joy bubbling up and making his processor dizzy. _This is perfect! He'll think we're just going to hang out, when really I can take her with me to see Blitzwing!_

The little girl tilted her head and looked at him with a confused expression as he stared down at her. “Uh, what are you talking about?” She glanced at the poster. “Should I just throw this out or...?”

Bumblebee snapped out of his thoughts and refocused on her. “What? No, I-um...” He faltered, realizing he'd need to explain the situation about Blitzwing. He placed his trash on the floor hastily. “Do you mind coming with me? I have something to tell you.” He motioned to her to follow him as he strode back to his room.

Sari narrowed her eyes skeptically but trotted after him anyways. Bee closed the door behind them in his room, processor racing. _Slag, how am I supposed to even explain this?_ He wondered. Bee scratched at his plating as nervousness crept over him. A strange mix of anxiety and elation gripped him, and he recognized the feeling from when he was sneaking out.

The young girl stared up at him. “Well? Spit it out already!” she said, bouncing up and down as if she was on a trampoline. Excitement gleamed in her eyes.

The Autobot sat down next to her on the ground. “Okay, Sari, you can't tell anyone this. This is a super big secret for best friends only.” he whispered. “You absolutely can't tell anyone, and _especially_ not Prowl or Optimus.” She raised her eyebrows at him worriedly, but nodded anyways.

“You can tell me, Bumblebee! I won't tell anyone. Pinky promise.” Sari bumped her pinky finger against his.

Bee vented deeply and closed his optics. _I hope she holds up to that._ “Well, it's sort of weird. Y'see, I need your help with something really important. Prowl found out, and now he's riding my tailpipe about it.”

Sari settled down on the floor and nodded. “What is it? Something dangerous?” She grinned conspiratorially, rubbing her hands together.

Bee felt slightly irked by her question. “Uh, not really. I've been sort of...sneaking out lately? To see someone really important to me?” A sensation not unlike taking a gulp of antifreeze hit him as his insides and faceplate heated up.“He's sort of like the human equivalent of a 'boyfriend.'”

A bolt of embarrassment shot through him when Sari gasped and tugged at his arm. “No way! That's so cool!” she cheered. “Who is it? Is it Bulkhead? Or is there another Autobot in the city?” She grinned up at him. “Is it Jazz? He's so cool!”

He grinned sheepishly at her and rubbed his neck. “No, it's not either of them, actually...”

“Is it Tutor-bot? One of my dad's robots?”

“No? That's gross!” Bee made a face as Sari laughed up at him. “Just, don't yell at me for this, okay?” _She shouldn't take this too badly, right?_

Sari giggled into her hands, but nodded anyways. “This is gonna be good, I can tell!” she said.

_I sure hope so._ Bee thought. He leaned down and cleared his vocalizer. “He's actually a Decepticon.” he whispered. A rush of giddiness made his spark pulse and he squeezed his optics shut. “He's Blitzwing.” He couldn't stop the quaver in his voice as he rushed the name out of his mouth.

Awkward silence filled the room, and he glanced down at Sari for her reaction. Disappointment made his tanks roll as she stared up at him. A look of shock and disgust adorned her features. She sucked in a deep breathe, making Bee flinch.

“Are you kidding me? That guy's a total sicko!” she shouted. Bee shushed her loudly, but she kept on yelling. “All the Decepticreeps are awful, but you're _dating_ the one with all his screws loose? What the heck!” She jumped up and paced around him.

“Hey! What happened to 'You can tell me, Bumblebee!'” Bee snapped. Panic began edging its way back, and he felt his frame start to heat up. “Just calm down. It's not that big a deal.” he whispered.

She swiveled back to look at him, her face screwed up in disgust. “Of course it's a big deal that you're dating a big, ugly Decepticon!” she snapped back at him. “I mean, how many times has _Blitzbrain_ tried to kill us?”

Bumblebee huffed indignantly. “He's not ugly.” he grumbled. Sari began pacing again. Her pigtails rustled as she shook her head in disbelief.

“Did you want me to help you keep seeing a Decepticon? Ew!” She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. “Remind me to never make any more pinky promises with you!”

Bee stared at the back of her head. His mouth hung open slightly, but he quickly noticed and snapped it shut. Shock and confusion ran through his systems. “It's not that bad? Blitzwing wouldn't hurt me...anymore.” The statement made him cringe as it left his mouth, but he pressed on. “Trust me, you just got a bad impression. He's really-”

He was interrupted when Sari groaned loudly and turned back to look at him. The look of discomfort on her face unnerved him. He fidgeted slightly as she stared him down.

Sari grumbled and looked at the floor. “Why do you even like him?” she asked. The hostile tone made Bumblebee's plating bristle. His processor conjured an image of Blitzwing. No distinct qualities came to mind, and he felt embarrassment wash over him.

“Well, I, uh-” he stammered. Sari watched him skeptically, raising an eyebrow in an _I knew he was bad_ gesture. “He's really nice, actually! Being a Decepticon just means we- as in, the team- have to fight each other.”

“He sure isn't 'nice' when that angry personality loses his cool in a fight.” she mumbled. Bee resisted the urge to kick her out of his room and try to forget about the conversation. Blitzwing’s eagerness to hurt Bee’s friends nagged at him, but he ignored it.

“Anyways,” Bee waved his servo, his faceplate reheating. “We always talk about interesting stuff! He's a good listener, I guess?” Memories of venting for hours to the Decepticon popped up, halting his speech. Various recollections ran through his processor: being held in a tight, almost suffocating, embrace; leaning against Blitzwing's chassis and tracing over the Decepticon symbol branded into his chestplate; feeling like being in a spotlight and basking in the attention-

“Snap out of it!” Sari's yelling pulled him out of the trance. He refocused his optics on his friend. She had been waving in front of his face only moments ago, attempting to break him out of his daydreaming. Her face was filled with agitation, and she was shuffling a foot rapidly on the floor.

Bumblebee placed a servo on his helm. “Sorry! I'm sorry. I keep zoning out.” he apologized. “Uh, let's see.” His mind traveled to Blitzwing's appearance. Decepticon frames were typically meant for flight and combat; their frames were large, but also aerodynamic and with wings that sliced through the air. Bee remembered boldly running a servo over one of Blitzwing's wings, the sharp edges dangerously close to his palm.

The Decepticon, while unpredictable at best, had an aura of power and control that was both unsettling and alluring. Details Bee hadn’t realized he’d noticed appeared in his mind: the eerie yet enticing calmness in Icy’s voice, his classically handsome face, talent on the battlefield, the volatility of each personality. All of the features contributed to the image of a mech who could manipulate any situation with both unrivaled intelligence and brute strength.

“He's pretty good looking,” Bee said. “for a Decepticon.”

He turned his helm away when Sari fake retched and clutched at her throat, sounding almost like a dying cat. She dramatically fell over to accentuate her point.

Bee grumbled indignantly, sticking his tongue out at her like a baby. “You aren't being very supportive.” he said.

Sari groaned from her spot on the floor. “That's kind of the point?” she said. They sat in silence for a few tense minutes. Bee rocked back and forth, distress clutching his spark. The floor suddenly felt cold and uncomfortable, like a block of ice.

“Anything else to say, lover boy?” Sari asked, sarcasm edged in her voice. Bee sheepishly looked down, searching for more qualities. The images of Blitzwing in battle kept reappearing, the cannon blasts shaking the air itself. He tried to conjure more peaceful interactions.

“He's perfect, ok? And he likes me a lot, so there.” Bee huffed and stared challengingly down at her. Sari squinted her eyes and opened her mouth as if to deny his words, but she snapped it firmly shut.

“Whatever.” She stood up and lightly punched his arm. “I'm not letting you off the hook, but I'll keep that pinky promise.”

Relief poured through Bumblebee's systems. “Thanks, Sari. I thought you'd be mad at me and go on a rampage.” he said. “I wish you could understand what I'm talking about, though. If you knew Blitzy, you wouldn't be freaking out.” He sighed wistfully. _I need to get her to change her mind, or I am slagged for sure._

She shook her head. “I'm sorry I'm being kind of mean, but this is kind of gross. The other Decepticons obviously aren't lovable, and Blitzwing is just like them!” She looked up at him, worry clouding her eyes. “I just want my best friend to be okay.” Shame struck Bumblebee hard, threatening to overwhelm him before he forced it to a manageable level.

Bee shook his helm, trying to clear out the negative thoughts and feelings. An idea caught on in his processor, and he felt his mouth forming the words before he decided to tell it. “Listen- how about you help me see him this one more time, and then you can make a judgment call on whether Blitzy is a bad guy or not? I promise I'll stop seeing him if you don't like him.” He felt oddly numb to adding another lie to the already massive collection.

Sari slumped back down and tilted her head. “Do you promise I won't get squished by a Decepticon if I tag along or something?” she asked.

Surprise flooded Bee when he registered her words. “Y-yeah,” he stammered. “We wouldn’t want that, now would we?” _Is she seriously going along with this?_

“And get me ice cream afterwards?”

Bee nodded vigorously. “I'll get you all the ice cream.” he said, satisfaction radiating in his spark and making him dizzy with relief.

“Okay...and I have to be able to back out at any time.” Sari looked away, scratching at her arm.

“Deal.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Bee's processor churning out new ideas and plans. A thought about Blitzwing jumped into his processor, and he turned to look at Sari.

“Oh yeah! Did I mention he's also a really good kisser?”

He yelped when Sari screamed at the top of her lungs and sprinted out of the room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah it's totally a good idea to suck a little girl into your awful lying game. great job bee *looks at the camera like i'm on The Office* holy shit 
> 
> i really wanted to include blitzwing in this chapter but ya know, short chapter. (i like writing sari though. she's too good, too pure for this world.) writing bee as really anxious and on edge was difficult, because he's normally so happy, but i guess sneaking around with a decepticon does that to you :]


	4. Chapter 4

Bumblebee glanced out the window at the sun sinking below the horizon, tapping his pede restlessly. The Autobots were all gathered in the main room: Optimus was talking to a bot from Cybertron Command, requesting extra stocks of energon, while the rest of the team relaxed. Everyone except Bee, who was pacing by the wall.

The week had passed agonizingly slowly; no Decepticon or allspark activity had occurred for days, putting Optimus on edge and making everyone ready for action. Everything had been unusually calm: patrols were quiet, assignments didn't range far from maintenance projects, and the base looked clean enough to have never been abandoned.

Bee checked his chronometer and nearly groaned out loud. The wait was killing him; he had been anxiously anticipating Sari to spill his secret, possibly even on accident, over the course of the week, but she never brought it up again. She had acted normal, if not quieter than usual. If she had any doubts, she wasn't voicing them.

He checked his chronometer again. A minute had passed. He sighed and resumed the pacing.

“Hey kid, you're going to wear a path in the floor if you don't cut that out,” Ratchet called out. The impatience morphed into annoyance and Bee resisted the urge to yell, clenching his fists instead.

He heard Bulkhead shift on the couch behind him. “You wanna sit with me, Bumblebee? I have a few datapads you can read.” he said amiably. Bee turned, seeing his friend holding out one to take.

He shook his head. “No, thanks,” He turned back to the window, the orange in the sky beginning the transition to darkness. “I need to move around.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” He checked his chronometer. Another few minutes gone. “Just bored.”

Ratchet scoffed at him. “If you're so bored, why don't you organize the medbay like I asked?”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Bee replied, pacing again. He glanced over at Sari, who was sitting by Bulkhead. She stared back knowingly, narrowing her eyes. His systems beeped nervously.

_If she's going to rat me out, now's the time to do it!_ He thought, apprehension flooding him. He hadn't been too nervous through the rest of the week, but the now-familiar feeling of anxiety was returning. He looked back at her again, staring hard and silently willing her to say silent. She glanced at Prowl, eyebrows scrunched and worry etched into her features.

_She better not be thinking of telling him._ His stare switched over to Prowl, who was contentedly scrolling through a datapad, oblivious to the two stares. _I gotta stop her if she tries._

He leaned against the windowsill, offlining his optics. His thoughts traveled to the plan for tonight. The ideal scenario was for him and Sari to leave the base swiftly and without incident, arrive at the meeting spot before Blitzwing, introduce her, and explain how she'd help them keep seeing each other. _He'll probably be weirded out at first, but he'll get over it if he wants to keep this thing going._ Bee thought. Apprehension still nagged at him nevertheless.

_At least I have a good plan to start out with. I'd be slagged by now._ He smiled sneakily to himself, the presences of his oblivious teammates somehow making the accomplishment more satisfying. _Take that, Prowl!_

His chronometer clicked by agonizingly slow, but time still passed. Bee paced around the rest of the room, watched TV, and idly played a videogame over the next hours, all the while fidgeting impatiently. Ratchet even called him out on incessantly tapping his pede on the floor.

“You _sure_ you're okay, Bumblebee?” Bulkhead asked when Bee had sighed harshly, plating crawling from the wait.

“Yeah,” He forced himself to stop fidgeting. “Never better.” Prowl shifted in his peripheral vision, immediately drawing his attention. The cyberninja somehow hadn't picked up on Bee's nervous behavior, seemingly lost in the datapad. Bee sighed in relief when the movement turned out to be Prowl merely resettling in the chair.    

He leaned back into the couch and checked his chronometer, systems beeping when he realized it was time to head out. The noise drew Bulkhead and Prowl's attention, optics focusing on him. Sitting up suddenly, he turned his head to where Sari was sitting—or had been sitting, as she had vacated the seat.

“Wait, where'd Sari go?” Bee asked. “She was just here, wasn't she?” He glanced around, no sight of the girl anywhere.

“She left when you were pacing around the base.” Bulkhead said. “'Said she was going back to her room.”

_She can’t be backing out now!_ His cheeks flushed, and he jumped up from the couch, heading to her room. _If she does, I don't know how I'll work around that!_

Approaching her door, he called out softly. “Sari? Are you awake?” Agitation worked its way into his voice, making the statement sound much more aggressive than intended. He cleared his vocalizer, embarrassed. “Can I come in?”

A few moments passed before the door eased open. Sari leaned out. “Hey there.” she said sheepishly, staring up at him.

They watched each other for a few tense seconds, Bee trying to work out what to say. “Sari...did you forget about my thing tonight...?” he asked, drawing his shoulders up in discomfort.

Sari looked down at her feet, hiding her expression. “I guess so,” she said. “Why? Are we not going?” She looked up, the hope in her eyes making his spark sink.

Bee shook his helm. “Oh, we're definitely going.” The doubt on her face made him sigh in frustration. “Come on! It'll be fun. I haven't forgotten about that ice cream deal. Please?” He smiled reassuringly, spark racing in his chest. _Please say okay please say okay please-_

“Well...okay.” she said. “You're gonna owe me so many favors if this goes badly.” Bumblebee sighed in relief, choosing to ignore the “if I don't get squished” remark she then grumbled. He stood back up, excitement making his spark beat even harder.

“Alright! Let's do this,” he said. “We can just go out the front door.” He peered out into the main room. All the other Autobots seemed to be too preoccupied to pay attention to them leaving. “Make sure you don't say bye or anything, or they'll ask where we're going.”

“You've gotten pretty good at this, haven't you?”

Bee scoffed. “As if you're one to be a goody two shoes all the time. Where do you think I picked up half my lying skills? From _you_.”

Sari crossed her arms as she walked with him to the door, but didn't reply. Bee gulped in a deep breath of air when they left the hallway, putting them in the Autobot's line of sight. He stood still for a few moments, watching them, before hesitantly turning his back and heading towards the door.

The few steps it took to reach the entrance were agonizingly far. He distinctly heard Sari's footsteps behind him, amplified by his nervousness. He reached for the door, grasped the handle—

“Where are you two going at this hour?”

He flinched hard. Prowl's voice rang across the room, tone accusing and making his plating lock up in fear. He swiveled around to face him. Shock and embarrassment ran through his systems when he saw that all the Autobots were focused on them. Prowl glared suspiciously and pulled his mouth into an upset frown.

“Well, uh, I was just taking her out to...um.” Bee stammered. _C'mon, think of something quick!_ No lies were coming to mind, and his vents hitched as he started to panic. “We're...not going any-”

“We're going to see a movie!” Sari blurted out. “It's a midnight premiere. Very late at night. We should hurry, so we don't, uh, miss it.” She smiled at Prowl, her face completely innocent.

Optimus stepped out from behind the command center. “Sorry you two, but I think you should stay back at the base tonight. We have some important work to do tomorrow.” Bee recognized the statement as an order, not a suggestion. He glanced at Sari, who was frowning and looking at the floor. Prowl was still staring them down, optics narrowed.

Sari cleared her throat and looked back up. “Uh...I don't think we can do that, because-”

An idea popped into Bee's processor, and he immediately blurted it out. “We already bought tickets! So it would be a waste of money if we didn't see it.” He grinned sheepishly at the Prime. His servo reflexively rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. “C'mon, Sari! Let's go...” He pushed the door open, and she darted out. No one protested as he backed out, but he noticed Prowl's suspicious gaze lingered as the door shut.

He vented hard and leaned against the side of the building. “That was _really_ close.” he said. Sari nodded, eyes wide. “Nice save back there!” He transformed into his vehicle mode, headlights flicking on and illuminating the now inky dark landscape.

Sari climbed into the driver's seat. “Thanks. That was good teamwork, to be honest.” He pulled out into the road, gravel crunching beneath his wheels. They sped down it for a few minutes in tense silence. Bee eventually switched on the radio, the fast beat of the song adding to the familiar mix of apprehension and excitement. Hope mixed into the feeling from Sari’s presence. Now that he had Sari, and even the Allspark key, on his side, he could keep his world with Blitzwing stable for the time being.

After a half hour, he felt Sari shift in the seat. “So, where are we going anyways? This road is taking us out to the edge of the city.”

“Yeah, that's the point. We're going to those woods outside the city. Then we have to go through them to - well, you'll see when we get there.” The urge to make a joke nagged at him when she grumbled in displeasure, crossing her legs and arms. “It's gonna be fun! Like camping!” he said, trying to cheer her up.

“You _hate_ camping.”

They drove in silence after that, the low volume of the radio becoming slightly relaxing to both. The scenery changed from sparse buildings to dense trees. The view outside the windows was nearly pitch dark, the only details being the marks on the illuminated road. Sari cleared her throat a few times as if to talk, but otherwise kept silent.

Eventually, Bee pulled into the empty parking lot. Mist had begun to form on his windows from the night air, and his headlights reflected eerily off the posted signs advertising the hiking trails. He opened the door, transforming once Sari slid out. The chilly air made his plating shudder. Sari hugged her arms around herself, already beginning to shiver.

“Okay! Now we just have to walk through the trees until we get to a clearing,” He grinned mischievously at her. “And hope we don't get lost.” The joke went unnoticed as fear crossed her features. Bee immediately regretted it. “Joking! I was joking.”

He turned in the direction of his path, but stopped when he felt Sari put a hand on his leg. He looked down at her. “What's wrong?”

Sari looked at the ground, hiding her expression. He heard her sigh and draw closer to him. “Bee, I really don't want to do this. Can we go back to the base now?”

His spark sank and his mouth dropped slightly. “W-what? No! We're already here. You can't just back out now! You’re probably just feeling tired. Or something.”

She stared up at him. His systems beeped in alarm when he noticed her hurt expression. “But you said part of our deal was that I could back out at any time!” she protested.

“Did I? Oh, slag...” he muttered, the memory faintly appearing in his processor. Frustration made him clench his fists and squeeze his optics shut.

Sari hugged his leg harder. “Can't we just go get ice cream, or hot chocolate, or something? To be honest, I'm getting a little freaked out by this place...”

Bee stared down at her, frustration turning into annoyance at his friend. _She can't just back out now! We're so close…_ He raised his foot, and she slid off his leg, landing on the ground with a thump. “Look, I'm going. You can just wait out in the parking lot, or come with me.” He backed up from her, annoyance morphing into full on anger as he spun around and strode towards the pathway.

“Hey! You can't just leave me!” Sari called out, her tone filled with hurt and shock. He didn't look back as he made his way into the trees, but soon heard her footsteps right behind him.

He smirked as she walked beside him, grumbling under her breath, triumph easing his flash of anger. “See? This isn't such a bad idea, is it?” he said. She opened her mouth to reply but was hit in the face with a branch. He picked her up and placed her on his shoulder, still smirking.

Bee easily climbed over the rocks and foliage, watching carefully to not trip and dump Sari onto the ground. He recognized that they were nearing the clearing, and he placed Sari onto the ground. “Wait here, okay? I'm gonna scope out the area.” She nodded, looking apprehensive but not protesting. He swiveled around and strode purposefully through the remaining foliage. He shuttered his optics when he stumbled out into the clearing. Everything looked deserted. _Great! Now I can just go get Sari and-_

He felt a light touch on his back, making him yelp and spin around, gasping when Random Blitzwing loomed directly behind him. Shock rippled through his spark, and he vented harshly.

“How long have you been standing there...?” Bee asked, resisting the urge to edge away.

Blitzwing grinned at him, tilting his helm. “Did I scare you?”

Bee shook his helm. “Pssh, of course not. You're just being a weirdo.” He felt Blitzwing hold his servos, lacing their digits together. His face switched over to Icy, who didn't look pleased at being called a 'weirdo.'

“Hmm. So I assume you worked something out to trick your fellow Autobots? The Decepticon asked, sneering at the mention of the opposite faction. Bee nodded, feeling an odd mix of both pride and guilt.

“Yeah! It's such a good idea, you're gonna love it.” He beamed and let go of Blitzwing's servos. “Let me go get someone to introduce to you-”

The change was immediate. Blitzwing pulled back, his stance alert and optic wide. “There's someone else here?” he asked, momentarily switching to the Hothead personality. “Where are-”

A crunch of leaves made both bots jump and snap their helms towards the source of the noise. A rush of apprehension hit Bee when Sari emerged from the trees, brushing leaves off her dress. He heard Blitzwing take a step back.

“You can't just leave someone out in the woods by themselves...” she muttered. She looked up to glare at Bumblebee, but her attention quickly switched to the much larger bot beside him. The girl's mouth dropped slightly, and she put her hand up to her mouth.

Bee laughed anxiously, wringing his servos together. “Sari! Perfect timing! I'd like you to meet-” He was cut off when she pointed at Blitzwing and started screaming at the top of her lungs. He turned his helm and joined her when he saw Blitzwing's pede raised to step on her.

“Hey! Stop stop stop!” He yelled, pushing hard against Blitzwing's chestplate to force him back. The action made the Decepticon lose his balance and put his pede down. Icy's mouth was drawn into a firm line, and his optic was narrowed in dangerous concentration. He glared down at Sari, who had stopped screaming but was still frozen in fear. Bee pushed him again, making him back up until they were at the edge of the clearing.

Bee’s spark was pulsing at a critical pace. He kept his servos place on the Decepticons chestplate, prepared to push him back again. Disbelief and embarrassment threatened to spill over. Coolant began to well up in his optics—real tears this time—but he blinked hard and forced them away. _I can’t believe he tried to do that! Oh_ slag _!_

It took a few moments for him to calm down. He stared up at Blitzwing. His expression, still stuck on Icy’s face, looked alarmingly detached from the situation. Completely cold and menacing. The Decepticon’s gaze was focused on Sari. His expression made fear, even slight sadness, prickle in Bee’s spark.

“Wait here.” Bee hissed, his spark pulsing at a dizzying pace. He spun around and approached Sari. She leaped forward and clung to his arm as he knelt down to her, breathing hard. “I want to go home.” she said miserably. He waited for her to calm down, occasionally turning his helm to glare at Blitzwing, whose Hothead face returned the look.

Once Sari stopped shaking against him, he pulled her off his arm. “I'm sorry, Sari. I didn't think he'd do that...” he said. Secondhand embarrassment from Blitzwing's reaction poured over him. “I promise that won't happen again.”

“You promised it wouldn't happen a _first_ time!”

Genuine guilt struck Bumblebee. He stood up, determined to fix the situation. “I'm going to talk to Blitzwing and get him to chill out,” _Literally._ “He isn't that bad, really. It'll be okay.” he reassured. He turned around and stalked over to Blitzwing, annoyance prickling in his spark.

“What in sparks name were you thinking, bringing another “Autobot” into this?” Blitzwing accused, his Hothead personality on display. “Is this your little organic pet? Unbelievable!”

“Would you shut up?” Bee snapped, instantly regretting the words when steam hissed out of the cannons on Blitzwing's back. “Sorry, I meant...sorry. I still think it was stupid of you to try and squish my _friend_ , not my _pet_.” He leaned in closer so Sari wouldn't hear. “She's here to trick Prowl. Just roll with it, okay? I had to come up with _something_.”

He waited till Icy Blitzwing, the default, reappeared. “Fine,” he said. “But don't think I'm okay with this idea of yours.”

_Then why don't you come up with one on your own?!_ Bee nearly snapped at him, but instead just gritted his denta. He took Blitzwing's servo and led him over to Sari. The human and Decepticon eyed each other, Sari scooting away and glancing at Bee. Blitzwing's grip on Bee's servo tightened, becoming slightly painful.

Bee stepped between them. “Okay, let's start over,” The statement sounded fake in his audials. “Blitzwing, this is Sari, my human friend.” He gestured to the girl, who stared back nervously, her eyes wide. “And Sari, this is Blitzwing. He's my...”

Blitzwing's personality suddenly switched over to Random. “Lover!” he blurted out, cackling immediately afterwards.

Bee felt his faceplate heat up, and he put his servos on his cheeks to hide the blush. “Right.” He shook his helm and turned to face Sari. “You only know Blitzwing from when he hangs out with the Decepticons and has to fight with us,” He stepped closer to Blitzwing, placing a servo over the Decepticon insignia on his chestplate. “But once you look past the fact he's a Decepticon, he's pretty great.”

Blitzwing scoffed behind him, and the pleasant expression Bee had forced on his faceplate fell. “Once you look past that you're an Autobot...” he heard Icy start to say, but he shushed him. Sari was staring thoughtfully at Blitzwing. She abruptly took a few steps forward and ran a hand down the Decepticon's tank treads. Her face betrayed the anxiety she was feeling, eyes wide and hand shaking.

“Wow. I never thought I'd see a Decepticon up close.” She whistled and circled around Blitzwing. Bumblebee felt him tense up as Sari left their line of sight, and he stifled a laugh when he realized that Blitzwing might be afraid of organics. Sari came back around and hid behind Bee.

She stared suspiciously up at Blitzwing. “So how do I know you aren't going to try and kill me again?” she asked. The Decepticon considered her question for a few moments.

“I suppose you don't.” he said, his tone slightly threatening. Bee kicked his pede against Blitzwing's and glared. The Autobot sat down in the grass, his hold on Blitzwing's servo pulling him down into the same position. Sari peered up at Blitzwing's face, now that it was closer to her.

She hid behind Bee more, only her face and hands peering out. “What's with the 3 faces thing?” she asked. Bee flinched when Hothead Blitzwing appeared. Small flames leaped out of the cannons on his back. The close proximity of the trees overhead created an easy fire hazard.

Bee glanced down at Sari. “Maybe you shouldn't ask about that...” He couldn't deny that he was curious himself. Blitzwing was obviously aware of his multiple personalities; he would most likely be able to explain their origin. The subject seemed touchy, though: Bee had already asked the same question and gotten a similar reply.

The three sat in intense silence for a few minutes. Blitzwing and Sari continued to stare each other down; Bee could tell Sari was getting more jittery as time passed. He desperately wanted to make a joke and fall back on his usual humor as a way to relieve the tension, but nothing came to him. He was about to suggest they just leave when Sari spoke up.

“Can I get a closer look at you...?” she asked. It registered a few seconds later that she was talking to Blitzwing instead of him. The Triple Changer stared down at her, face devoid of emotion. Bee worried that he'd refuse, until Blitzwing held out a servo for her to climb into. She hesitantly stepped into his palm; Bee fidgeted nervously when Blitzwing raised her up to optic level.

The two watched each other warily. Sari reached out to touch the Decepticon's faceplate, but seemed to think better of it when she pulled her arms back. Blitzwing only blinked in a bored manner, looking down at Bee.

“Bumblebee called you attractive.” Sari blurted out. Bee's faceplate broke out into a deep blush and he turned his helm away.

“Really now?” he heard Icy Blitzwing purr. Sari gasped when his face changed. “Well, he's not wrong!” Random's laughter echoed, amplifying Bee's embarrassment.

“Whatever, Blitzbrain.” he muttered, not stopping the grin appearing on his faceplate.

Sari continued to ask uncomfortable questions, and the situation only got more awkward. (“How old are you? What’s Megatron like? Just how big _are_ you?”) She eventually asked Blitzwing to put her down when he made a comment about how she'd die if she fell from his height. Bumblebee eventually found himself leaning against the Decepticon, feeling the tension in his frame recede as time passed and Sari talked. The usual excitement and giddiness wasn’t there, replaced instead by dullness and disappointment. It was troubling. He was almost lulled into recharge, but was soon snapped out of it when he idly checked his chronometer.

“S-Sari, we really need to go.” he sputtered. “We should have left an hour ago.” Prowl's suspicious glaring from earlier reappeared in his processor. _Slag._

The relief on her face was evident. “Okay!” She jumped up and hung onto Bee's leg. “We're getting food, right?”

“Yep.” Bee said, distracted by the impending interrogation from Prowl. He idly leaned over and hugged Blitzwing. “See ya, Blitzy. Meet me again next week?” The Decepticon nodded.

“Okay, cool.” Bee said, for once not wanting to linger around. Sari enthusiastically skipped towards the direction of the parking lot. Bee took a few steps to follow her, but was suddenly pulled back by Blitzwing.

“Leaving so soon without a proper goodbye?” Icy asked, an sly grin on his faceplate. He slanted forward, closer to Bee's face. The Autobot was hyper-aware of Sari's presence behind them.

Bee hesitated, face awkwardly close to Blitzwing’s, before reluctantly leaning in and pressing their lips together. He intended to jerk away, but Blitzwing put a servo on the back of helm and pulled them into a deeper kiss. His frame heated up from embarrassment, and he tilted his helm to free himself. The sensation of Blitzwing’s face spinning felt bizarre against his faceplate, and he opened his optics to glare into Random’s. The sudden sensation of Blitzwing’s tongue against his own shocked him, and he yanked his helm free.

“Okay! I-Im done here!” Bee sputtered, wiping his mouth. Blitzwing switched back to Icy and smirked evilly at Sari, delighted at her discomfort. She gaped at them in disgust from the edge of the clearing.

Blitzwing leaned back down and pecked his cheek, still smirking. “See you next week.” he whispered, backing up enough to transform into his alt mode and fly off.

Bee slowly turned to look at Sari. Surprise adorned his faceplate. “I-I didn't...let's just go.” he stammered before turning back under the trees and to the parking lot.

____________________________________________________________________________

Sari blew the steam off her cup of hot chocolate. The two were sitting outside one of Detroit's late night cafes. She leaned back into the seats of his alt mode and took a sip. Discomfort and embarrassment still lingered from the night's event. She couldn't shake the image of Bee and Blitzwings mouths pressed together out of her head, making her shudder all over again.

“Sari,” Bee said hesitantly. “I'm really sorry about tonight.” Guilt oozed from his voice. She could practically feel his own humiliation.

“It's okay.” she reassured him. _It's really not._ “It wasn't that bad, just kinda gross.” The hot chocolate she was drinking tasted funny as the memory replayed yet again.

“Not even about... _that_. Ugh. You almost got stepped on, even though I said that wouldn't happen. I'm really, really sorry.” She opened her mouth to reply, but got interrupted. “And for leaving you in the parking lot...and for making you lie to Optimus...”

The heavy remorse and disappointment in Bee’s voice made her heart sink. “No, no, no! It’s fine! You’re fine!” The lies fell from her mouth in a frantic stream. The following silence didn’t show that Bee had been reassured. Mist had begun to creep back on Bee’s windows, adding to the gloomy atmosphere.

She waited until she finished her drink to resume speaking. “So...what’s going to happen next week?” The words sounded awkward, and she cringed.

“I’m going back! I have to.” Bee said. “You’re coming with, right?” Sari fidgeted in the seat, hesitant to say anything. “Trust me, it won’t be a mess next time.” Bee said, hope emerging in his voice.

Sari felt annoyed at Bee going right back to the Decepticon, even after the night’s disastrous results. The morality of the situation fussed at the back of her mind. Aiding Bee in seeing a Decepticon wasn’t something she felt comfortable with, even if she wasn’t a shining example of honesty and innocence. Sari lied plenty to get her way, but it had never strayed into dangerous territory. Or at least, this kind of danger.

“Don’t you think this is a _bad_ thing to be doing? I just-I don’t want to be mean, but this is wrong.” Tense silence followed. “He’s a Decepticon, remember?” The memory of the intense fear from earlier, when Blitzwing’s pede was about to smash her into the ground, made her flinch.

“I know,” Bee snapped. Hurt bloomed in Sari’s chest. “But he didn’t try and hurt me, right? And he was, uh, pretty romantic at the end. Even if it was weird. Besides, you just got a bad impression!” The arguments sounded weak, but the desperate tone in his voice made Sari feel bad for him.

The image of the happiness on Bee’s faceplate when she initially agreed to help him appeared in her mind. She grimaced and closed her eyes, reluctantly replying. “I guess I’ll go back...” She heard his systems beep, the emotion in the sound unclear.  

“You’re the best, Sari.” he said, the relief now evident in his voice. His alt mode lurched forward and he pulled out onto the road. “What would I do without a friend like you?”

The trip back to base was quick. The freezing temperature of the night made her shudder. Transforming out of his alt mode, Bee’s headlights shut off, plunging them into the darkness of the night. He placed his servo on the door, blindly searching for the handle.

“Sure could use a flashlight or something right now.” he said to himself. His servo hit the handle eventually, and he grinned, which went unnoticed in the dark. He pulled it open, making it creak—

“So how was your movie?”

Sari yelped when Prowl’s voice called out from above them. She heard Bumblebee stamp his pede in the gravel.

“Quit hiding out on the roof! It’s creepy!” Bee shouted upwards. There was no reply for a few moments until Prowl dropped down in front them. His features were hard to make out, but Sari managed to see that he wasn’t pleased.

Prowl shook his helm. “You didn’t answer the question.” A cold chill ran down Sari’s spine when she realized Prowl was suspicious of them, and she had the knowledge of Bumblebee’s secret. If she didn’t keep up a convincing lie, the whole plan would fall apart. She was reluctant to speak up, but Bumblebee wasn’t answering, instead choosing to glare defiantly at the other bot.

“It was great!” she answered. “The theater was packed. Bee could barely fit in there.” She chuckled, hoping it was convincing enough. Prowl stared back. His blank faceplate didn’t give any indication if he believed her. Uneasiness made her skin crawl.

Prowl abruptly stepped closer to Bumblebee, opening the door for him. “‘Glad you two had fun.” Prowl said, not sounding particularly glad. Sari promptly walked past him. She looked over her shoulder to see Bee stalk past Prowl. A silent challenge seemed to be transmitting between the two as Bee glared and Prowl stood completely straight, still and refined as ever.  

All the lights were off in the base. Bee stomped back to his room, not saying goodnight to either of his teammates. Prowl merely sighed, a small puff of air escaping his vents, and strode back to his own room, leaving Sari by herself. She felt strangely vulnerable in the shadowy base.

She quickly changed into her pajamas and climbed into her bed. The covers chased out the chill she had been feeling all night, making her eyes droop. As she lay in bed, hurt and dismay at her new situation dawned on her. Sari had been denying how upset she was about the night’s events. Almost getting squished by a distracted Autobot was one thing; her teammates never did it on purpose, and always offered abundant apologies. Having come so close to being flattened into the dirt had been scarier than she wanted to admit. It was weird; she hadn’t been that scared of the Decepticons in the past.  

The bizarre nature of the Autobot-Decepticon relationship was the weirdest part. It didn’t seem like Bumblebee to be harboring such a dark secret. She wondered how he managed to get that close with the unstable war machine that was Blitzwing. The two hadn’t seemed particularly affectionate.

_Maybe that was because I was there?_ The thought immediately made her feel bad. She didn’t want to ruin her friends relationship. It made her feel guilty and wrong.

The negative thoughts and emotions faded as sleep dragged her down. Her last thought wondered how she was losing her best friend to the most unstable, unlovable bot in the galaxy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school started but i'm not giving up on this


	5. Chapter 5

The thunderstorm hadn’t bothered Bee at first, despite the curtain of freezing rain and howling wind. When it knocked out the power, he started to worry.

Currently, he was pressing his face against the window. All the other Autobots were huddled around a set of lit emergency candles; Bulkhead was attempting to start a card game, but everyone’s mood had tanked with the power. The view outside wasn’t promising: everything was pitch black, aside from the rain passing right in front of the glass. The sound of the rain pounding against the roof was like a barrage of bullets. Right from the start, nothing was going right for his next meeting with Blitzwing.

The routine of sneaking out with Sari was getting old. They had been pulling the same stunt enough to settle into a routine. It was stagnant; boring. Bee could feel himself getting agitated all over again.

Sari’s presence at their meetings was probably the most frustrating thing. It was obvious no one was pleased with the arrangement: Bee could practically feel the awkward tension, even now. Sari sat on the couch, arms folded tight and shoulders hunched. She was swinging her legs forcefully against the furniture. Her mouth was drawn in a tight, defiant line, almost like she was clenching her teeth.

Blitzwing was obviously annoyed with his plan. Conversation had been dull; tense silence was common. There wasn’t anything _interesting_ to talk about when an 8 year old was present. Bee was afraid Blitzwing would get tired of the setup and flat out abandon him.

No. Not possible. Bee had found a way out of everything thrown at him until now; a little rain wasn’t going to stop him tonight. He’d fix this.

A clap of thunder shook the windows panes and he jumped back. Despite his determination, the odds weren’t great. _I should probably just leave before it gets worse…_ Bee reasoned. He walked hesitantly towards the others, arms folders and shoulders hunched.

“Hey Sari, shouldn’t we go to the concert already?” That was his pre-planned lie: a rock concert in the city, late at night. It wasn’t even much of a lie; there actually was a concert taking place, but they wouldn’t be attending. It would be impossible for Prowl or anyone else to try and track them down in such a large crowd, if anyone got suspicious. Bee couldn’t help feeling proud of his latest plan.

Especially the meeting spot: it was a warehouse scheduled to be demolished. While unstable, the location meant no people were likely to be hanging around, even in good weather.

Bee flashed a (hopefully not nervous) grin. “C’mon, Ratchet’s not getting any younger.” The joke was lost on all the downcast Autobots. Sari already had on her raincoat, pulled tightly around her in an almost protective way. Her expression made Bee’s spark sink. She obviously didn’t want to go, with the angry pout displayed on her features.

Ratchet grumbled. “Where exactly are you going in this mess?” he accused. All the bots looked interested in his answer.

“Concert.”

The old bot scoffed. “You’ll be lucky if your circuits aren’t filled with water if you go out in that.”

The rumbling of the storm outside wasn’t doing Bee any favors. He waved off Ratchet’s snark. “Well, sorry, we’re going to have actual fun while you guys party it up in the dark.” He almost regretted saying that; Optimus didn’t look pleased. 

They were close to the door when he heard someone stand up.

“I think a concert actually sounds pretty fun!” That was Bulkhead’s voice. Bee gritted his dental plates.

He turned around to see Bulkhead approaching them. His teammate looked eager, optics wide and hopeful. “Do you think I could come with you guys? I’ve never been to anything more intense than an art show.” Bulkhead said cheerfully.

Bee gaped at him. He was at a total loss for words. He heard Sari move towards Bulkhead.

“Wow, Bulkhead, that’s...uh,” She shuffled her feet. “I guess you-”

“You can’t come with us.” Bee sputtered. Sari had sounded as if she was about to actually _invite_ him; that was insane! What was she thinking?

Bulkhead’s optics widened, and his mouth turned down in dismay. Bee noticed him tap his servos together in a nervous gesture.

“W-well I understand that I break human things sometimes, but I promise I won’t this time!” Bulkhead pressed on: he seemed really determined to follow his friends. Bee felt a sense of panic- now becoming sadly familiar- rise in his spark.

Bulkhead cleared his vocalizer and kept talking. “Besides, shouldn’t a concert be in a big open space? Maybe I could hang out in the back! That way I can listen and not get in the way. I haven’t gotten to hang out with you guys in a while anyways, so this could-”

_If I don’t stop him, Bulkhead’s going to ruin everything!_ Bee felt his servos involuntarily curl into fists. A flash of anxiety and annoyance made him squeeze his optics shut and grit his dental plates.

“We don’t want you to come with us!” he shouted.

The words fell out of Bee’s mouth. He immediately cringed. _That was too harsh_. he realized as Bulkhead’s expression fell. The larger bot’s shoulders drooped dramatically, and he stared at the floor.

“Wh-what I mean is,” Bee stammered, hesitantly reaching towards his friend. “I just don’t think you’d like it. We wouldn’t want you to be unhappy, right?” He stared at Sari, silently willing her to back him up. She just gaped at him.

Bulkhead shuffled his pedes in front of him. “No, I get what you mean.” he said. His expression was completely downcast. Bee’s spark ached.

The rest of the Autobots looked shocked to say the least. Ratchet looked downright furious at Bee: his arms were crossed tightly, and he was shaking his head indignantly. All talking had ceased, the only sound being the torrential downpour hitting the roof.

Bee backed up towards the door. “So...we’re just gonna go now.” He motioned for Sari to follow him as he pushed the door open. Bulkhead sighed and dragged himself back to his position on the floor. Bee knew what he did was mean, but he tried to push it down.

It hurt, honestly; the game of lying and sneaking out was fun and exciting until someone got hurt. Or worse, if he got caught. At this point, it hurt more to be away from Blitzwing. It was like a residual ache in his spark; he didn’t know when it happened, but he always felt lonely without Blitzwing. _He_ didn’t treat Bee like he was a nuisance. He treated Bee like he was worthy of love, attention, desire.

It was nice being loved, so he returned the favor.

The wind nearly knocked Sari over when they left the base. The rain was overflowing onto the road and puddling over the gravel. Bee quickly transformed into his alt mode.

“My shoes are filled with water!” Sari complained, an obvious whine in her voice. Bee could feel the water from her shoes seep into his alt mode’s carpet. He ignored her and pulled out onto the road.

Right away driving was difficult. The layer of moving water on the road was terrifying: at one point, he lost control and skidded into the next lane. Sari even yelled that they were going to “float away” multiple times. She held onto the steering wheel for dear life, and Bee swore he heard her curse at one point.

  “This is crazy! We’re gonna _die_!” she yelled when they entered heavy traffic on one of Detroit’s overpasses. The car lights glinted off the wet pavement in a painful glare, contrasting against the darkness of the sky and night.

“What are all these people even doing out here?” Sari complained.

“Yeah, they’re total weirdos for being out in this.” he agreed, trying to empathize with her. The hypocrisy of the statement struck him a few moments later.

“Look on the bright side,” he said. The murky darkness immediately killed the phrase. “Blitzwing’ll show up even if it rains. He doesn’t care! And then we-”

“I’m not going.”

Bee braked hard. Surprise flooded his systems. “Wh-what? What do you mean?” He was stopped in the middle of the road. The car behind him blared its horn, and he pulled over to the curb.

Sari banged her hands angrily on his steering wheel. “I mean it! I’m not helping you out this time! I’m sick of watching you two eat each others faces while I sit off to the side!”

Bee’s spark sunk hard. “Why didn’t you tell me this _before_ we got all the way out here?” he asked. The cars on the freeway sped past. The proximity made him feel a little trapped.

Sari’s voice had a distinct upset waver. “I don’t know! Just take me back to the base!”  Her yelling grated on Bee’s audials. The stress in his systems made his spark beat rapidly, his spark chamber almost hurting from the effort.

“No way, if we go back then I can’t see Blitzwing!” He pulled back onto the freeway, accelerating rapidly. He heard her draw in a shaky breath. “Chill out, ok? I’ll-”

He yelped and once again hit the brakes when Sari burst into tears.

“Holy scrap! Are you okay?” he asked. The answer was obvious as she sucked in a breath of air and bawled harder.

“I want to go home! This isn’t fun, it’s scary!” Tears dripped like raindrops down her cheeks. “We were so mean to Bulkhead! I feel like such a bad person and I’m don’t want to help you anymore!”

The words were like a slap to the face. That familiar feeling of fear gouged into his spark. “Sari, I _can’t_ back out.” he pleaded. Cars blared their horns like an angry mob behind him. He sped off the nearest exit of the overpass, returning to the main streets.

_What do I do, what do I do?_ He thought. All the guilt he felt before was nothing compared to what he felt now. It _hurt_.

He spotted a cafe to his right, and he veered into the parking lot. Sari’s bawling had quickly quieted down to shaky whimpers.

“Sari…” Bee tried to think of something comforting to say. No ideas.

“Are you sure you can’t help me one last time?” he asked hesitantly.

Sari wiped her eyes and huffed. “Yeah! I hate hanging out you two. Blitzwing is _terrible_! He’s always trying to lowkey let me know he wants me dead, or make a bad pun, or do something weird.”

Bee felt a twinge of anger at her. “Hey, leave him out of this!” he snapped.

Sari sniffed indignantly. “How can I leave him out when he’s the worst thing to ever happen to you?”

That crossed the line. The anger, fueled by the pressure and anxiety pumping through his systems, intensified. “Sari, listen. This is really, really important to me. I don’t think you understand-”

Sari shook her head and carried on. “It’s so obvious that everyone’s worried about you, but you’ve been hanging around a Decepticon so much that you’re acting like one-”

That did it. A bolt of fury ran through his systems. He opened the door of his alt mode and ejected her from the seat and onto the pavement. He transformed from his alt mode and glared icily at her.

“I don’t care what you think about Blitzwing, because he loves me and I love him and we don’t need you!” he yelled. He could practically feel the gazes of the cafe’s patrons on him, but he didn’t stop.

“If you don’t want to come, find. You can just stay here while I go!” he said. Sari’s angry expression changed to a horrified one.

“You can’t just leave me by myself!” she protested.

Bee scoffed. “You’re a big girl, you’ll be fine. Besides,” He transformed back to his alt mode. “I have somewhere important to be.” He veered back out onto the main road and, without looking back, headed toward his destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *always sunny in philadelphia title card theme plays* "Bee destroys a friendship to hang out with his boyfriend"
> 
> i didn't like writing bee being mean to bulkhead because i love bulkhead he's such a gem :'(((


	6. Chapter 6

It was a wonder Bumblebee didn’t get in a wreck on the way to the warehouse. 

The combination of torrential rain, pitch-black roadways, and his own  storm of emotions made for reckless driving -  _ extremely _ reckless driving. Bee ran through every stop sign, sped down the highway with record speed, and even tapped the bumper of another car at a red light. 

Bee didn’t care about any of that as he drove. Everything around him blurred to focus his processor on one thing: the painful mix of fury and regret that threatened to transform into a crying spell. Deep down, he knew he was being irrational: Bulkhead and Sari were his best friends, and he’d been awful to them.  _ Best friends don’t deserve to be snapped at and used and lied to and- _

He didn’t even notice when he passed the entryway to the abandoned warehouse. Hitting the brakes, Bee reluctantly backed up and transformed out of his alt mode. The building was a faint silhouette in the darkness. The only details he could make out were the shattered windows and  crumbling  roof. 

He easily stepped over the protective fence around the parking lot, making sure to avoid the barbed wire at the top. The decrepit area was off-putting. Everything about the environment was uninviting and downright hazardous. 

Bee stood idly in front of the fence, looking up at the aged structure. The rain hadn’t eased up and, combined with the wind, was making it emit an awful creaking noise. The sudden urge to turn back struck him. 

He instinctively took a step back. The upset emotions from before were returning: murky feelings of guilt and anger blended together. He wasn’t even sure if the anger was directed at just Sari or himself.  _ I’ve been such a jerk! If I don’t make this up to them… _ A sudden flash of resentment towards himself  caused him to kick the nearest rock as hard as possible.  It smashed into the side of the warehouse. 

Big coolant tears dripped down his faceplate. He angrily tried to wipe them away, sniffling and feeling his vents hitch up in a sob, but to no avail. He stamped his pede to the ground in frustration. 

Crying had never been Bee’s style. Even after demotion to a space bridge technician, the resulting loneliness of the job, and violent encounters with the ‘cons, he hadn’t cried. Or at least, not in front of the other Autobots, like Bulkhead did. Neither of them were accustomed to the intense fighting of war like Ratchet, or even Optimus. War caused by Decepticons like Blitzwing. 

Bee covered his faceplate with his servos, extremely embarrassed. His default reaction to crying was to cover up the action with petty anger or force it to stop; neither were working. His spark felt like it was constricting in his chestplates. The idea to bail and go home was becoming more tempting by the second. 

The more he dwelled on it, the better it got: if he bailed, he could repair his broken friendships, not have to hang out in a creepy demolition site, and get out of the freezing rain. 

On the other hand, the prospect of being with Blitzwing was pulling him back like a magnet. He remembered Blitzwing was usually the decision maker when it came to this kind of thing, if he even decided to help Bee: the combination of intense emotion and logical reasoning between the three personas made him oddly adept at settling disputes. 

Almost against his will, Bumblebee felt himself wishing Blitzwing were there.  _ I must look like a moron right now, standing out here by himself.  _ Bitter laughter almost  bubbled from his mouth. He felt so lonely. The emotion was foreign after having been with the Autobot team on Earth for so long. They had formed a sort of family, and Bee always had Sari and Bulkhead around. Even Blitzwing himself was a great source of attention. And attention was something Bee craved. 

Though it wasn’t something normally given out by his teammates. It was easy to feel unimportant among the others. Ratchet’s near constant berating, Prowl’s quiet disapproval, and everyone’s underlying lack of faith in his abilities made him question his value in the eyes of his teammates. It wasn’t always easy to interact with them and get the spotlight treatment he wanted. 

There lied the fundamental difference between his friends and Blitzwing. There wasn’t any doubt about how much Blitzwing valued him; why else would he go out of his way to visit Bumblebee all the time? Sneaking around and pulling reckless stunts was worth it when the reward was undivided attention. 

Bee’s opinion swayed towards staying...until the image of Sari’s upset face reappeared in his processor. Ouch. 

As much fun it was to trick his teammates, he’d never meant to hurt anyone. Sari’s reaction had left him more affected than he wanted to admit. 

The impulse to just leave struck him, and he felt his pedes shifting towards the fence. A moment later, he took a step. Next thing he knew, Bee was walking back to the fence, determination to face Sari slowly replacing the guilt and sadness. 

Just as he was lifting a pede over the fence, he heard the faint, yet growing, sound of an approaching jet. His spark sank, and the coolant tears started back up. He could almost feel a literal pull to go backwards, but forwards at the same time.  

Bee couldn’t make up his mind, even as the jet got closer. Multiple times he stepped over the fence, only to backtrack and go back over. This lead to several scratches from the barbed wire, one of which drew energon, causing Bee to start crying again. He was dismally looking over the injury, located on his servo, when the distinct sound of the jet engine cut out behind him. 

Furiously wiping away the now streaming tears, he turned to face the Decepticon and forced a grin. Random Blitzwing was casually walking towards him, completely unaware that Bumblebee had almost left him.  

“So, I’ve been saving this pun for a  _ rainy day _ .” Blitzwing snickered. The Decepticon couldn’t contain his laughter, and kept on cracking up before he could finish. 

“What do you call a dangerous storm?” Bee waited, unimpressed. “A _ rain _ of terror!” Blitzwing absolutely lost it, cackling until his vents whined in protest. The joke only drew a small smile from Bee, which quickly faded.

Blitzwing apparently noticed, as he knelt down to Bee’s level and cocked his head. “Awww, are you in a bad mood? Maybe feeling a little  _ under the weather _ ?” He erupted into another fit of laughter, falling over on his side and into a puddle. The behavior normally would have made Bee laugh too, but somehow it only made him angrier. He gave the Decepticon a thumbs up, but his sniffling and upset frown betrayed his true emotions. 

“Good one, Blitz.” Bee tried forcing a grin on his faceplate, but it came out as a dark grimace. He hoped Blitzwing wouldn’t notice; fortunately for him, Random Blitzwing was too busy giggling into the pavement to notice. The laughing fit soon ended and the Decepticon sat up, water cascading down his plating.

“Oh! I don’t see your organic around here!” He looked around Bee for Sari. “Is she hiding? Ooh, are we playing hide and seek?” Random leered, the jagged smile on his faceplate seeming to widen. “Or did something else happen?” The question threw Bee of guard; Blitzwing was probably thinking something bad happened to Sari, but it felt like an accusation. 

Blitzwing abruptly changed faces, Icy appearing with a smirk. “Well, I’m guessing one of you finally gave in and got rid of her,  _ permanently _ .” 

“Okay, you did  _ not  _ just say that.” Bee said. Or, he would have said: he opened his mouth to snap at Blitzwing, but only a burst of static came out. He clamped his mouth shut, shock coursing through his systems. Coolant tears instantly resurfaced and  cascaded down his faceplate.  

Icy’s optic immediately widened, and his mouth dropped a little in surprise. “Wait, what are you…?” He switched over to the Hothead persona. “Are you crying? What’s going on ?! ” The Decepticon looked downright afraid as Bee sniffled and wiped tears off his faceplate. He edged away, looking uncharacteristically freaked out. 

“Sari-” Bee sputtered weakly. “I left her behind...” Static broke off the sentence again. Giving up on speaking, he stared back at Blitzwing. The Decepticon reached out, almost as if to touch Bee, but quickly pulled back. The two stared at each other in silence. 

Blitzwing was the first to break it when he switched to his Random face. “Well, that was a neat meltdown! But time to stop crying!” He laughed nervously and abruptly switched to his Hothead face. “Cut it out already! You look ridiculous!” he yelled. 

Bee stared at him. That hadn’t been the expected reaction.  _ Isn’t he supposed to be...nicer?  _ He thought. 

Distress and sadness gave way for sudden, rising anger. “Wow, okay, what the slag is wrong with you?” he managed to choke out. The force behind the words managed to dispel most of the static from his voice. 

Blitzwing’s wings twitched in annoyance. “It’s just that crying is so...pathetic!” he replied. He turned away from Bee, breaking optic contact. “Decepticons don’t cry, we just deal with-” 

“ _ I’m _ not a Decepticon!” Bee yelled, suddenly striding over to Blitzwing and yanking on his arm. He managed to place one of his pede’s on the tank treads on Blitzwing’s pedes, giving him a boost to meet the Decepticon’s optics.

Blitzwing switched through faces rapidly before settling on Icy, his singular optic wide. 

“I don’t care if you don’t like when other bots cry! I don’t care what Decepticons do! I’m upset, so I’m crying about it! And I can’t even help it; I  _ hate  _ crying!” Bee shouted up to Blitzwing. He reached out and grabbed the sides of Blitzwing’s helm, yanking his face closer and nearly making him fall over. 

Blitzwing narrowed his optic and glared dangerously. “I suggest you let go of me, Auto-”

“Oh! You know why I’m upset? Why I’m crying my fragging optics out?” Bee snapped, interrupting him. All the affection he’d felt towards the Decepticon had been pushed to the back of his processor as he glared back. “It’s because of you!”

That caught Blitzwing off guard; a burst of surprise hit Bee as he watched Blitzwing’s menacing expression drop into confusion and then...hurt? The Decepticon opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it, and looked away. 

_ No way, he can’t be upset by that...right?  _ Bee wondered. He shook his helm to refocus. “Y-yeah! It’s your fault! Sari didn’t want to come with me here because she hates doing that, and I end up making her lie to everyone, and you always act like a mega-jerk to her!” He felt his vocalizer freezing up, and more tears on the way. Bee squeezed his optics shut. 

“I left Sari at some random caf é that I might not even know the address to! So she’s stranded out there cause you scared her away, and I  _ had _ to show up here!” Bee’s pede slipped from Blitzwing’s tank tread and he fell backwards, hitting the ground with a painful  _ clang _ . 

Bee coughed, vocalizer glitching from the impact. “Y-y-you started m-making me act like a jerk and lie to all my teammates!” He pointed an accusing digit at the Decepticon now towering over him. “Even Bulkhead - tonight, he asked if he could go out with me and S-Sari, and I told him-” Bee gulped in cool air as his cooling fans clicked on. “I told him we didn’t want him there! It was so mean! Sari’s pretty much disgusted with me now!” He laughed shakily (or was it a sob?) and covered his faceplate with his servos, falling on his back. 

The only sound for a while was the rain and Bee’s fans, which eventually shut off. Bee stayed down on the pavement, letting the rain fall on him as he tried to calm down. He heard the crunch of gravel. Looking up, he saw Blitzwing kneeling down to his height. His Icy face, normally looking so apathetic, looked concerned. For once. 

“You didn’t have to show up…” Blitzwing murmured. “You could have just stayed with your organic friend if she was so upset.” He put out a servo for Bee to take. He ignored it for a few moments before giving in, allowing Blitzwing to pull him back to a standing position. 

Bee looked down, avoiding Blitzwing’s gaze. “Yeah, I guess.” he sighed. “I just...ever since we started…” He didn’t know what to say; he didn’t want to say something awkward, but just saying something like ‘hanging out’ was the understatement of the century. 

“Since we started...being together, I’ve been mean to everyone.” Bee remembered all the pent up feelings from the past month. “Not to mention I haven’t been feeling good. I’m super afraid all the time about getting caught, or...or not being able to see you again.” 

Admitting his feelings felt overwhelming; sure, both of them had shared complaints before, but actually talking things out was new and very, very foreign. There was a short pause in conversation; It was awkward, but also charged with some unidentifiable emotion. 

Blitzwing momentarily switched over to Random. “Wow, I thought  _ I _ had problems!” he chuckled, but stopped when Bee shot him an exasperated look, switching back to Icy. 

The two stood in tense silence for a while longer until exhaustion hit Bee like a crushing weight. He abruptly leaned against Blitzwing, resting his helm against the other bot’s shoulder. “I wish you weren’t a Decepticon.” he muttered. “That’d make everything so much easier.” He felt Blitzwing hesitantly raise his arms, before wrapping them around Bee in an awkward hug. 

Blitzwing tightened his hold on Bee, still not saying anything. Bee closed his optics. Thunder rumbled in the distance; he idly wondered how Sari was doing.  _ Slag, I should probably go pick her up...who knows how long she’s been by herself.  _ He thought. Sleepiness was creeping up on him, making him slump into the embrace. 

Bee cycled the cool night air through his vents. All the anxiety and sadness ebbed away, replaced by a prickling numbness. If anything, all his energy spent on yelling was gone. 

His processor traveled back to his friends.  _ I don’t even know how I’m gonna apologize this time.  _ He thought.  _ Sari’s definitely not helping me out anymore, and I can’t drag Bulkhead into this... _

Bee hesitated before leaning back and breaking the hug. “I don’t know what to do about Sari...I should go and-” A small bolt of shock ran through his systems when he noticed Blitzwing’s  pained expression. He looked... _ guilty _ ? Surprise knocked the words right out of Bee’s mouth. 

Blitzwing shifted uneasily, not meeting Bee’s optics. It was obvious he was uncomfortable. Having Blitzwing actually lose control of the situation was oddly appealing to Bee. It put them on more equal footing. 

Bee opened his mouth to keep talking, but Blitzwing suddenly cut him off. “I’m…” he mumbled. The Decepticon cycled through faces quickly before going back to Icy. Bee distractedly wondered if that was his way of putting something off.  _ ‘Wonder why he’s acting so sketchy… _ Bee thought, slight unease creeping up on him. 

His systems beeped in surprise, all other emotion being pushed away, as Blitzwing leaned down, put their foreheads together, and mumbled “I’m sorry.” 

Bee gaped, mouth dropping open. He quickly snapped it shut. “Wait, what?” he  exclaimed . “Are my auditory sensors glitching, or did you just  _ apologize _ to me?” 

Blitzwing abruptly switched to his Hothead face and leaned back. “Fine, you got me! I said I’m sorry!” The tone of his voice sounded more embarrassed than angry. He covered his faceplate with a servo and vented harshly. “This whole thing's a disaster.” he muttered. 

“Yeah, I...don’t know what you expected.” Bee said, a little bit of spite prickling in his voice. “I mean, remember when you tried to step on Sari? How’d you think that would ever work out?” 

Blitzwing turned away and grimaced. Bee noticed his wings twitch in discomfort. He switched through faces again, returning back to Icy, the default. Bee couldn’t catch his expression before he was pulled into another tight, almost desperate hug. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Blitzwing said. He pulled back and cupped Bee’s face in his servos. 

The gentle gesture and words caught Bee off gaurd; he couldn’t think, feel, or react besides staring and blinking dumbly. “Wh-wha?” he managed to force out.  

“If I knew you were so upset, I would’ve done something about it. Do you think I just want you to suffer?” Blitzwing asked. 

Bumblebee blinked hard, still in a slight daze. “But you…” He reset his vocalizer awkwardly. Blitzwing leaned in closer. Bee pulled his helm out of Blitzwing’s servos. “You told me you wouldn’t help me work out a new plan? You said to ‘solve your own problems…’”  _ Scrap, that was a while ago… _ He faintly remembered the slight hint of a menace in Blitzwing’s voice at that time when he told Bee to work something out. “And I also felt like you were kind of...threatening me?” 

Blitzwing’s singular optic widened in surprise. “ _ Threatening _ you?”  He drew his mouth into an upset frown; Bee expected him to switch over to his Hothead face. “When did I…?” 

Bee looked down, feeling embarrassed. “You just sounded like it was ‘do or die’ or something. I don’t know. I’m just being dumb, I guess.” His faceplate heated up.  _ Ugh, maybe I’m just overreacting. _ He thought. He felt his spark beat in a jittery pattern. 

Blitzwing’s mouth twitched like he wanted to say more, but instead he remained silent, staring at Bumblebee in an analytical way, almost like he was mulling over an idea. 

Bee drew his shoulders up in discomfort at the resulting  quietness . The rain had slowed from a downpour to a light drizzle. Looking around, the area has descended into near darkness with the progression into night. The forgotten warehouse behind them had melted in with the shadows. He drew closer to Blitzwing. 

A stinging feeling in his servo drew his attention from the depressing surroundings. The injury from climbing over the barbed wire fence multiple times ached sharply. Bee’s systems beeped in surprise. He had forgotten about it in his yelling fit. It was still leaking energon slightly; a small drip rolled off his plating and onto the ground. 

“How did that happen?” Bee heard Blitzwing ask. He cringed; admitting that he was about to ditch the Decepticon seemed like a bad idea. 

Before he could come up with a new lie, Blitzwing shifted his gaze to the barbed wire. “Did you cut yourself on that?” he asked. 

Bumblebee shifted uncomfortably, straining his processor to come with some excuse. “Well, y’see,” he started. Nothing was coming to him; it seemed like such a petty thing to lie about anyways. “I...yeah, I did.” he muttered, giving in.

Blitzwing narrowed his optic. He reached out and took Bee’s servo in his own, raising it to examine the wound. Bee made a face of disgust when a small dribble of energon leaked onto Blitzwing’s servo. 

“It’s not that big a deal…” Bumblebee mumbled, easing his servo out of Blitzwing’s.  The concern and apology were becoming more surreal by the minute. The Decepticon stared at him incredulously. Bee tried to look nonchalant about it.

Blitzwing tilted his helm to the side. “You didn’t do this on purpose, right?” he questioned. 

A sick feeling hit Bee’s tanks. “No!” he shouted.  _ Slag, where’d  _ that  _ come from?  _

Blitzwing sighed, the air from his vents turning to  fog in the cool air. Bee blinked in confusion; had that been a sigh of relief? 

“I got it ‘cause I was climbing over the fence…” He said. “I was, um, trying to go back out and go home. Since I felt bad about my friend…” He tapped his digits together nervously. Blitzwing just stared, expression devoid of emotion. 

Bumblebee looked down at the Decepticon symbol on Blitzwing’s chestplate. The brand, once looking daring and enticing, looked far more menacing than before. The eyes seemed to look right through him. The urge to scratch off the symbol irked him, but it was an impossible idea: unlike Autobrands, which were painted on, the Decepticon symbols were burned into the bearers plating. 

“Bumblebee.” Blitzwing suddenly spoke up. A shiver ran down Bee’s backstrut. He realized he hadn’t heard Blitzwing say his name much before. It had always just been “Autobot” and “Bug” in the past. 

“What do you want me to do to help you?” he asked the smaller bot. Blitzwing put a servo up to his cheekplate. He leaned into it without thinking. 

The question caught Bee by surprise.  _ I want you to stop being like a Decepticon. _ He thought. He bit his tongue to prevent the words from spilling out. 

“I just don’t want to lie to my friends anymore.” Bee  said instead. “ It was fun for a while but now they’re all mad at me.” 

The Decepticon tilted his helm in confusion. “But you have to. You Autobots don’t approve of...” He abruptly switched over to Random. “Well, just me in general!” He laughed weakly; almost in a sarcastic way.  

Bee opened his mouth, about to start arguing that he didn’t want to lie anymore, but felt too exhausted to carry it out. He bowed his helm and closed his optics. “You’re right…” he admitted. Frustration mixed with anxiety in an instant. “Can you just...try and work something out? For once?” Bee locked optics with Blitzwing; the other bot looked slightly uncomfortable at the suggestion. He drew up his shoulders nervously. “Please?” 

Blitzwing grimaced, looking away and avoiding optic contact. He briefly switched through faces before settling back on the original. He sighed slightly, almost in an exasperated kind of way. “Okay, I’ll try think of some way to get you past the Autobots. How about…” He raised a servo to his chin in thought. 

He stayed silent for a long time; long enough for Bee to get slightly antsy. Blitzwing was still leaning in close to him, and the atmosphere had changed to something much more uncomfortable and tense. Bee fidgeted, plating twitching in anticipation. The silence became too much, and he opened his mouth to speak.

Bee  said “You could always roll with the Autobots?” just as Blitzwing announced “I think you should be a Decepticon.”

The two gaped at each other before awkwardly looking away. “How about no…” Bee mumbled. Blitzwing switched over to his Hothead face and grimaced. 

“If the Autobots are causing you so much trouble, why not switch sides? Then you wouldn’t have to lie with them. It’d be so  _ simple _ !” Blitzwing said, looking irritated. 

“But they’re my friends!” Bee protested. “You don’t even like your teammates; you complain about Lugnut and Starscream  _ all _ the time!” Bee had heard the most complaints about Lugnut and his suck up personality, but everyone except Megatron had been subject to Hothead Blitzwing’s rants. 

Blitzwing switched over to his Icy face and scoffed. “I’ve been with the Decepticons since the Great War. It’s illogical to just give up on the faction you’ve been with for millions of stellar cycles.” 

Bumblebee’s spark sank at the mention of the Great War. It wasn’t news to him that Blitzwing had been around in the war; he was featured in some of Optimus’s history vids of the late period of the war, being one of Megatron’s top lieutenants (not that Bee had watched them). It was still weird to hear; the war’s aftermath was evident in Autobot society, but Bee hadn’t been around to actually see it. He felt odd thinking about how the same bot in the propaganda was the same one he had kissed and who was standing right in front of him. 

The expression on his faceplate must have looked odd, because Blitzwing tilted his helm and asked “What?”

Bee shook his helm. “Sorry, I just...I wasn’t around for the Great War, so I wouldn’t know anything about that.” 

Blitzwing nodded. “Of course, that’s understandable.” He paused. “I don’t know much about Autobot Society, since the Decepticons were forced off Cybertron after the war…” The sentence felt somewhat rushed, like he was trying to relate to Bee but couldn’t quite do so.

“Right.” Bumblebee nodded slowly. The idea of Blitzwing involved in all the events of the boring history lessons from the classroom part of Autobot boot camp was surreal. He felt a little funny- and kind of sick, even- thinking about it. 

Blitzwing suddenly switched to his Random face and cackled. He leaned his helm down and thunked his forehelm against Bee’s. “We’re so different! We’re literally almost complete opposites! Isn’t it hilarious?” He dissolved into a small fit of laughter. 

It wasn’t funny in the “haha” kind of way to Bee, but definitely ironic. A small thought of why he liked Blitzwing so much nagged at the back of his processor. He remembered Sari asking him the same question awhile back. 

_ Sari.  _ The realization she was still out there dawned on him. He smacked his forehelm in frustration.  _ Oh no, I still need to get her. The cafe might not even be open at this point!  _

He was about to announce his departure when he heard Blitzwing mutter to himself. “Y’know, this has been so down in the dumps. We should lighten the mood a bit!”  

Bee rubbed the back of his neck reflexively, feeling a bit nervous. “Hey Blitz, I think I need to go an-” He shrieked as he suddenly felt himself being knocked off his pedes and scooped off the ground.

Everything was a blur of motion and sound as Bee was swept up into Blitzwing’s arms; he was yelling but he definitely couldn’t stop. It took a moment to realize the Decepticon had picked him up and was spinning him around, laughing like a maniac and holding Bee tight. 

Bee gripped onto the Decepticons sides and squeezed his optics shut. He felt the sides of his mouth curl into an uncontrolled smile, and a laugh erupted out of his vocalizer. He heard a slight snicker bubble from Icy Blitzwing, which-  oh no , it made Bee’s spark absolutely  _ melt _ . 

“Stop it! I’m supposed to be mad at you!” Bee yelled, trying to stifle the grin breaking out on his faceplate. He squirmed in the Decepticon’s arms, but the combination of closeness and heat radiating from his frame was nice. Comforting, even. He found himself not wanting to leave. 

Blitzwing took a step back, stopping and still laughing a little. He angled Bee a little to put their forehelms together; Bee’s faceplate broke out in a deep blush when he felt Blitzwing’s lips brush on his faceplate. 

“I’m sorry this hasn’t been working out. Everything was much simpler before the other Autobot found out, right?” He murmured. He was right: sneaking out and visiting the Decepticon had been a walk in the park before Prowl had found out about them. 

Bumblebee nodded. “Yeah...I wish everything could go back to the way it was.” The words sounded fake in his audio receptors; he knew the whole situation was becoming more and more tangled.  _ Stupid Prowl. This is all still totally his fault.  _ He thought idly to himself. 

Blitzwing smiled slightly. “Of course.” Bee suddenly noticed how close their faceplates were to each other; they were practically touching. 

Blitzwing’s optic narrowed in calculating concentration. “From now on, let me figure out how to get past the Autobots. I promise I’ll work something out.” He said. “After all, I am Lord Megatron’s top tactician.” A smug grin spread across his faceplate. “How hard can it really be?” 

A sudden burst of overwhelming relief hit Bumblebee. It felt like a crushing grip was relinquishing his hold on his spark. He gaped and stared at Blitzwing, uncontrollably grinning. “Really?” he asked, enthusiasm evident in his voice. 

“If it’s been so much of a burden to you, then yes.” Blitzwing pulled Bee closer to his chassis. “If you can’t sneak out, I’ll have to create some kind of diversion.” He muttered to himself. 

“Diversion?” That didn’t sound good. A small pang of apprehension dampened the previous feeling of relief. 

Blitzwing hummed in thought. “Nothing too big, but just enough to get all the Autobots out in the open. I’m sure Lugnut can keep them busy, if I direct him, and allow me to communicate my own plan.” He nodded with finality. “There, perfect. And now your organic gets to stay out of this and everything will return to how it was.” 

It didn’t sound like a perfect plan. To be honest, Bumblebee didn’t feel very reassured with it.  _ It’s better than nothing, I guess… _ He mused. The prospect of letting Blitzwing do his dirty work was too good. 

“Okay...let’s do it.” Bee replied. He felt a small spark of hope.  _ This won’t be so bad! It’s gonna be okay!  _ He reassured himself. Relief and hope mixed together into a giddy feeling of happiness, and he grinned at Blitzwing. 

Blitzwing smirked. “Excellent. Now in the meantime…” Bee’s spark skipped a beat as the other bot drew him closer, closed his optics, and locked them into a kiss. 

It felt so good, honestly; being entwined in a safe, warm embrace was the best thing to happen at the moment. The feelings of warmth and closeness and affection were enough to make Bee’s processor spin. 

A burst of energy hit him, and Bee pulled his helm back. Almost on impulse, he leaned forward and pressed a quick line of kisses along Blitzwing’s jawline. He felt the Decepticon freeze up. Bumblebee slipped his arms around Blitzwing’s neck, pulling their faces closer and crashing their mouths together again. 

Blitzwing reached up and placed his servo on the side of Bee’s helm, stroking his thumb across his cheekplate. Bee opened his optics slightly; Blitzwing’s expression looked completely neutral, but Bumblebee could feel the Decepticon’s spark hammering against his chestplate. 

The two stayed like that until more thunder rumbled in the distance and the wind picked up again. Bee pulled back, blinking hard and trying to remove the daze from his processor. 

Blitzwing glanced up at the sky as more raindrops began to fall around them. “You should probably leave to pick up your organic friend.” he said. More thunder boomed threateningly from the sky. 

Bumblebee resisted the urge to whine in protest. He wanted to pick up Sari, but the longing to stay with Blitzwing was much more powerful. He almost suggested they go inside the abandoned building to get out of the rain, but held back. 

“Right. Okay.” he said reluctantly. “See you later.” 

Blitzwing smiled slightly and lowered Bee back to the ground. Once his pedes were safely on the ground, Blitzwing put a digit under Bee’s chin and tilted his faceplate up to deliver one final kiss that made his spark flutter. 

And as Bee was driving away, he never remembered feeling angry at Blitzwing at all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> also hey go read my note at chapter 1 if you're invested in this story for whatever reason


	7. Chapter 7

Prowl paced by the window of the base, peering out into the darkness. The power had long since come back on, but the persistent rain still threatened another outage. It was an issue, but not the one on everyone’s minds right now. 

“I just don’t know how to make him feel better.” he heard Optimus whisper behind him. “I haven’t seen Bulkhead this down since...well, I don’t know!” 

The other Autobots, except for Bulkhead, had gathered by the wall to discuss what to do about the dejected Autobot. Bulkhead was sitting by himself, turned away from the others. There was a noticeable slump in his posture, and he appeared to be idly fiddling with some craft. 

Ratchet crossed his arms and sniffed in disdain. “When I get my servos on Bumblebee, he’s never going to hear the end of it!” He shook his head. “I mean, really. You’d think he’d be a bit more  _ mature _ by now!” he nearly shouted. 

Prowl and Optimus glanced at Bulkhead to see if he heard Ratchet. There wasn’t any sign of acknowledgment, but the green Autobot did sigh heavily. Pity for him coursed in Prowl’s spark. 

“I think we should give him some space, for now. Bumblebee needs to be the one to work this out with him.” he suggested. Prowl prided himself on being one of the more level-headed members of the team, but his patience for the younger bot’s antics was wearing thin. He didn’t intend to help Bee out of this one. 

Optimus grimaced. “Yeah, but I think we should at least try and comfort Bulkhead. Since he’s just sitting by himself.” 

Prowl nodded. “Good point. At the very least, we shouldn’t pressure him to talk about-”

His sentence was broken off when he heard the door to the base creak open. 

He swiftly turned his helm to see Sari and Bumblebee walk in the base. Both were dripping water onto the floor. Prowl immediately noticed the miserable expression on Sari’s face.

“Well, well, well! Look who’s back!” Ratchet called out. The old bot crossed his arms and glared at Bee venomously. “Bet you didn’t realize how long you were gone. But I’m guessing you weren’t thinking of how your teammates felt, were you? As if you ever do.”

The whole team stared at Bee, who looked between all of them, a shocked expression on his faceplate. 

“Um, yeah, sorry a-about that.” the young bot stammered. 

“Yeah, you have a lot to be sorry for.” Ratchet grumbled under his breath and trudged in the direction of the medbay. 

Bumblebee’s expression immediately melted into a defensive glare, biting his lip like he wanted to snap back something equally vile. 

Everyone watched Ratchet leave, not daring to make a sound. Soon after, Bulkhead eased himself up and shuffled in the direction of his room. The pained expression on Bee’s faceplate was fleeting, masked quickly by something more nonchalant. Prowl narrowed his optics.

Optimus sighed, exasperation evident in his voice. “I’m going to go talk to him.” he said hastily. The Prime shot Prowl a look of unease before following his teammate. 

That left Sari, Bee, and Prowl alone. Prowl eyed Bumblebee suspiciously. 

“How was your outing?” he asked. Bumblebee immediately looked uncomfortable. He fidgeted under Prowl’s intense stare. 

“It was okay...” Bee mumbled. He looked down at Sari like he had something to say, but instead clamped his mouth shut. He hesitantly took a step forward, glanced at Prowl, and strode out of the room, looking embarrassed. 

Prowl turned his attention towards Sari. The young girl was looking at the floor, expression unidentifiable.  _ They must have had a fight.  _ Prowl thought. He watched as Sari made her way over to the couch and lifted herself up to sit on it. 

He moved forward to comfort her, but abruptly stopped.  _ Perhaps it would be better to let her cool down. She’ll tell everyone what is wrong on her own time, as long as we listen. _ He watched as she tentatively leaning back on the couch, drawing her knees to her chest. Even from a distance, he could see her bottom lip quiver. 

Prowl felt a twinge of pity. It was easy to forget that Sari, being a human child, was much more  emotionally vulnerable than the Autobots, who had thousands of years of life up against her eight. If he left her there without checking in, what kind of friend would he be? 

Secretly, he wanted to delve further into the case with Bumblebee. He had expected all suspicious activity to cease after his confrontation; if anything, now the situation was even worse, with Sari beginning to act strange as well. Bee had seemed more elated and cheerful, while Sari’s mood had tanked following their more recent outings. 

Prowl had considered whether Bumblebee was going behind his back again; it wasn’t like him to take being bossed around,  _ especially _ by Prowl. The ninjabot had considered following him again that very night, after Bee’s  cruel  outburst to Bulkhead.  However , the rain was still coming down in a  torrential curtain, and it was better to just stay with the others and not exacerbate the high tensions already running through the Autobots. 

Out of the corner of his optics, he noticed Sari wipe at her eyes. He impulsively stepped forward and headed over to the young girl. Prowl cleared his vocalizer and cautiously lowered himself next to her. 

The two sat in silence. The atmosphere was surprisingly devoid of tension;  more like they were sitting together to talk like regular friends. Sari sniffled a little and scooted closer to Prowl. 

“Is there anything you would like to talk about? Prowl asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible. 

Sari shook her head slowly. “No. I’m just really mad.” She sighed and slumped down on the couch. “It’s just- I dunno. Bumblebee’s just really stupid sometimes, y’know?” 

_ Seems like Bumblebee really is responsible for all this. _ Prowl thought. “Believe me, I know what you mean.” he said, smirking a little. 

“Yeah...remember that time he tried to fly off the roof with the turbo boosters?” she snickered.

Prowl smiled slightly and shook his helm. “How could I forget?” The sound of Ratchet hollering at Bumblebee on the medical berth wasn’t something he’d forget anytime soon. 

They chuckled at Bee’s expense. Prowl, still laughing a little, looked down at her. “But seriously, is there anything you need to talk about?” 

Sari anxiously drummed her fingers against the couch. “I guess I’m just really fed up with Bumblebee and his dumb Decepticon  _ boyfriend _ .” She stuck out her tongue and grimaced.

The words hit Prowl like a slap to the face. “Did you say ‘boyfriend?’ And  _ Decepticon _ boyfriend?” he sputtered. A cold feeling of dread spread through him; however, he realized he wasn’t even surprised to hear her say it.

Sari eye’s widened. “Wait, no, that’s not what I meant! I was just, uh,” She tapped her fingers together in a nervous gesture that Bumblebee often did. “...just kidding?” 

“Sari, I know you weren’t kidding.”

She looked down at her lap and sighed. “Okay, well...he really is ‘dating’ a Decepticon. But I don’t like it! It’s gross and weird and-”

Prowl’s processor raced to figure out what to do.  _ Of course he went behind our backs. Why didn’t I intervene when I had the chance? I knew he was up to something; if only I’d taken the initiative and followed him again…Do I tell Optimus? Do I confront him directly?  _

“- but Blitzwing’s just really sketchy and scary and I’m not even sure if he actually likes Bumblebee! I wanted to tell you guys but I didn’t want to make Bee upset cause he seems really happy around Blitzwing, plus I don’t want to make him mad at me.” Sari sputtered. Prowl realized she had been ranting to him while he was lost in thought. 

“Oh, Sari…” How could Bumblebee put her through that? It was obvious how upset she was. A surge of anger coursed through him. 

Prowl stood up and stomped his pede to the ground. “That’s it, I’m going straight to Optimus.” He strode out of the room towards Bulkhead’s, ignoring Sari’s tentative ‘Wait!’ 

He hesitated before approaching the door. What exactly was he going to say? The subject was kind of awkward to address, or even just think about. He couldn’t just outright say ‘Prime, Bumblebee is dating Blitzwing.’ He didn’t want to make the Prime think he was joking.  _ Of course, Prime never really gets jokes himself- _

The door to Bulkhead’s room abruptly opened. Optimus stepped out and closed it behind him with gentle precision. Noticing Prowl, he exhaled, frustration evident in the action.

“I’m not sure if I helped him or just made him feel worse.” the Prime whispered. “How did everything go out there?”

Prowl paused, unsure of what to say. “I talked with Sari-”

“Do you think Sari needs to be getting to bed? I’m a little worried about her getting sick after being out in the rain for so long.” Optimus interrupted. He began walking down the hall; Prowl startled and headed after him. 

“We’ve been slacking a little on taking of her lately. I don’t want her going out so late like this, even under Autobot supervision.” Optimus rambled. “Especially not with Bumblebee. I don’t trust him to make the right decisions with her.”

Prowl dashed forward to walk beside him. “I actually have to tell you something about that. Sari told me something that concerns the security of the team.”

Optimus whirled to face him. “Security? Are we in danger?” 

Prowl hesitated. Prime’s optics were wide, and he was drooping like all his batteries had been drained. The whole team knew he was suspicious about the lack of Decepticon activity. The anticipation of an attack was stressing him out more each day. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell him; leaving him in the dark would give him one less thing to occupy his thoughts.

But, he’d already started. No going back now.

Prowl pulled Optimus away from the doors of the hallway, where he knew Ratchet would’ve been able to hear. He bit his lip plate, considering how to word the explanation. 

“Well, do you remember back when you asked me to follow Bumblebee and see if he was up to anything?”

Optimus lifted an optic ridge. “Yes.”

Prowl looked away, unable to meet the Prime’s optics. “Well, I might have not told you the truth about what was going on...” he admitted.

Optimus stared at him in disbelief. “But why? You should know any of you can come to me if you have concerns about the team’s well being!” Optimus dragged a servo down his faceplate and sighed heavily. 

“I’m sorry. I thought I could handle it on my own.” Prowl murmured. The rare feeling of guilt crept up on him.

“What did you figure out? Anything about the Decepticons?” Optimus asked.

Prowl shifted in discomfort.  _ Here we go… _ he thought. 

“Well, yes and no. There’s no evidence of any of the Decepticon’s plans, much less an attack -” He noticed Optimus’ jaw clench. “- but Bumblebee’s been...interacting with one of them.”

“Interacting? Did Bumblebee get in a fight with the Decepticons?” Optimus asked, concerned.

Prowl resisted the urge to groan and smack Prime upside the helm. “No! I meant that Bumblebee is in a  _ relationship _ with the Decepticon Blitzwing.” he hissed. 

“Relationship…?” Realization dawned in Optimus’ optics. “Like, do you mean...a romantic relationship?”

Prowl cringed. Embarrassment washed over him. “Yes, that’s the best way to put it.” 

He’d expected the confession to feel more climactic, like floodgates collapsing. Instead, Optimus just stared. The Prime put a servo over his mouth and exhaled. 

“So...has Bumblebee been sneaking out to see the Decepticon? I mean, to see Blitzwing…?” He asked, hesitating to speak. 

Prowl resisted the urge to cringe and abandon the whole conversation altogether, but nodded anyways. 

Optimus raised an optic ridge at him. “Care to elaborate on why you didn’t inform me of this  _ earlier _ ?” He  growled . “You told me nothing was wrong when I originally asked!” His engine rumbled in his chassis, and he grit his dental plates. 

Prowl put up his servos. Prime had just gone from bewildered to enraged in just a few moments.  _ This is almost as bad as when he found out about the Dinobots… _ Prowl thought nervously. 

“I know, and I’m sorry.” The underlying guilt and unease over the situation clawed at him at full force. “I just - I wanted Bumblebee to handle this on his own. He’s always bringing the team down with his immaturity and I hoped he’d take my advice and stop seeing Blitzwing on his own.” 

“You and I both know Bumblebee never listens to any of us, especially not you Prowl!” Optimus pinched his nasal ridge. “You should have just told me the truth the first time and we could have handled this before anything got out of control.” 

The words stung, but Prowl nodded his helm in reluctant agreement. “Do you know what to do next?” He knew Bumblebee was going to freak out if Optimus confronted him.  _ I suppose he deserves it. He went behind our backs for something that could endanger the whole team.  _ He reasoned, pushing the similarities between Bee and himself to the back of his processor. 

“No! I never thought I’d have to deal with this kind of insubordination! Especially from not just one member of the team, but two!” Optimus snapped. “I’ve never even heard about this type of thing happening in my history vids,” The young Prime put his servo to his forehelm and vented. “Autobot-Decepticon relationships are outlawed on Cybertron - and for a good reason! We’ve been at war for millions of stellar cycles. Primus, the Decepticons haven’t even been on Cybertron since 2 million stellar cycles ago! I mean, there’s a reason we’re separated.” 

Prowl nodded in agreement. “It’s just horrific, honestly. We can’t let Decepticons get close to us.” 

“All they know how to do is manipulate others. There’s no way Blitzwing could feel anything for Bumblebee. It’s just impossible!” Optimus exclaimed. He scrunched his faceplate in a sickened expression. “All he’s going to do is take advantage of Bumblebee, and maybe even hurt him if we don’t intervene.” 

Prowl remembered seeing the two together, and the overpowering feeling of how  _ wrong _ it was. Every placid touch or thoughtful look (and the kiss) had to be a complicated ruse to ensnare Bumblebee into some Decepticon trick. Right? It was only logical. He could clearly imagine Bumblebee casually mentioning a landmark near their base, like the name of the street; next thing they knew, the Decepticons would find its location and launch a full scale assault on their new home. He could almost see it now: flames would engulf the building in a flash, and as everyone evacuated, the Decepticons would be waiting to strike. Without Omega Supreme or any other resources, they’d be goners. And Bumblebee, the smallest and weakest aside from Sari, wouldn’t be able to defend himself against his former lover’s deadly cannons. 

A hot wave of fear washed over Prowl. Prime was right - Bumblebee really was in danger.

The Prime suddenly vented heavily. “I don’t even know where to start with this…”

Prowl cringed and looked away. “Well...shouldn’t we start by interrogating Bumblebee and putting an end to things?” 

Optimus shook his helm, agitation adorning his features. “Why don’t you start by telling me all that you know about the...situation.” He bit his lip. “I mean, tell me everything from start to finish. And make it the  _ truth _ this time.” He shot Prowl a frigid look and leaned against the wall to listen. 

Prowl thought back to the night Optimus sent him to follow Bee. It been over a month since it occurred.  _ Meaning Bumblebee’s had a lot of time to plan on keeping up his charade...  _ He realized. 

“I followed him to an abandoned warehouse by the docks. He actually broke into the building, if that’s something you want to know. I had to stay hidden while he and Blitzwing were together.” Prowl said. “They didn’t do anything besides talk. Blitzwing did have an allspark fragment, though. If I remember correctly, Bumblebee reached for it- I don’t know if he was trying to take it or not- and Blitzwing yelled at him. Quite loudly, might I add.” He winced, remembering his audio receptors ringing. 

Optimus held out a servo. “Tell me more about Blitzwing. Do you think Bumblebee is in...any danger from him right now? Like, do you think Blitzwing has tried to hurt him?” Optimus’ voice brimmed with unease. Both bots shifted uncomfortably. 

“I...I don’t know..” Prowl said. The memory of Blitzwing yelling at Bee did make him uneasy.  “He’s not in control of his emotions, especially since they’ve...fragmented into different faces?” It wasn’t clear what had happened, but it was obvious Blitzwing wasn’t mentally sound. “I’m assuming he wouldn’t hurt Bumblebee on purpose right now,” He thought of the powerful cannons, firepower, and considerable size difference between the two. “But we can’t be too careful. Decepticons are deceptive by nature.” 

“Right. It’s important that we split them up as soon as possible.” Optimus agreed. “What happened after that?”

“Well...they both left after Megatron ordered Blitzwing back to the Decepticon base. After that, I followed Bumblebee a good distance away before I made him pull over and tell me everything.” He remembered how Bumblebee had fidgeted and the coolant tears in his optics. “He forced himself to cry to try and get me not to tell you. He also promised he’d stop as soon as possible. I can’t believe I feel for it!” Prowl vented in frustration. 

He’d given Bumblebee the opportunity to see Blitzwing one more time and break up, trusting he’d do it. Bumblebee had acted just angry and upset enough to convince him he’d actually done it. Plus, Bee must have come up with a new, effective plan to see Blitzwing in no time at all. 

Apparently he was smarter than they gave him credit for. 

“But like I said, I just figured out from Sari that he, in fact, did not stop seeing Blitzwing.” He sighed. “It’s been over a month since then. I bet they’ve figured out ways to trick us this whole time.”

Optimus narrowed his optics, but stayed silent. 

“I take full responsibility for letting this happen.” Prowl said. “If there’s anything I can do to make up for letting this happen, let me know. I can take on extra duties if you need, or-”

He paused when Optimus held up a servo. 

“No, Prowl. We can’t distract ourselves with whose fault it is- Bumblebee’s the one we need to focus on.” He turned away from the ninjabot and strode further down the hallway. Prowl hesitated, then hastily followed.

“Bumblebee’s going to have to own up to his actions, or face serious consequences.” Optimus said. Prowl watched the Prime walk quicker and stand taller, adopting the attitude of a leader. “We may even have a major safety threat to the whole team, if he’s said anything about Autobot secrets.”

Prowl grimaced. “Should we take any extra security measures?” he asked. Patrols were already set up to monitor for Decepticon activity; what if they had to set up other defenses? He could practically feel the exhaustion from more late night patrols. 

“Maybe. I don’t want to take any chances.”

Optimus abruptly came to a stop in front of a door. It took Prowl a moment to recognize it as Bumblebee’s room. 

“For now, we need to find out exactly what’s been going on. And we’re going to start here.” he said as he slid open the door. 

Prowl’s spark beat harder as he followed Optimus into Bee’s room. Bumblebee himself was laying on the berth with his back turned to them, presumably asleep. He quickly rolled over to face them, optics wide and mouth hanging open.

“What? What’re you guys doing?” he  asked . 

Optimus crossed his arms and leaned over him. “Your secret’s out, Bumblebee. You need to tell us everything about you and Blitzwing  _ now. _ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prowl's a tattletale lmao 
> 
> There's a big difference in the ways Bumblebee and Team Prime view Blitzwing. I was originally going to put a Blitzwing POV in this chapter so I could show his true intentions/feelings towards Bee, but I want to keep it mysterious for now. (Also I was too tired to finish it..........) This was also super intense to write!!!!! so I have more romancey stuff planned out, just so it doesn't get unbearably edgy ;^ ) 
> 
> (btw please hmu if you see any errors in formatting or grammar anywhere........thanks)


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